Mass Effect: The Dark Era
by Red Geist
Summary: A sequel to Mass Effect: Imperfect Future, Shepard and Miranda travel the 41st Millennium to save the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: This is the sequel to the fanfic "Mass Effect: Imperfect Future", and this story, whilst a good standalone piece is best when read after its predecessor. Thanks again for taking the time to read my stuff.)

Chapter One: Grey Horizon

0.124.065.M41 (April 22nd Local Time)

Planet Odyssey VII, Reductus Sector, Segmentum Tempestus

Caldus, a prominent and unique hive world. Home to millions of citizens and guarded by the benevolent and diligent Fate Breakers Space Marines, the world has prospered for nearly two centuries since the world was rescued from the rampant gangs, cults, and a small Tyranid invasion. The Fate Breakers' duty is to see that any world on the brink of total loss is saved and rebuilt, and to make sure it never happens again. This results in a permanent and noticeable Space Marine presence on the world. The Fate Breakers set up a Fortress Monastery at the southern tip of the largest continent, and its soldiers regularly patrol the streets keeping order and helping those in need while at the same time maintaining the defense of the surrounding systems. They rival the Black Templars in numbers and use their ranks more efficiently than them by never straying beyond the borders of the Segmentum.

The people of its capital continent, Aegis city, are thankful for the gifts provided by the Fate Breakers. They are all much more tolerant of each other and live happier lives than the average human living in other parts of the galaxy. This world is one of a kind in this dark and terrible galaxy, slowly plunging into a never ending war, and its story is just beginning.

--

1400 Hours

Four muscular men sat around a small table out on a white balcony overlooking the ocean, its metal frame warm from sitting in the sun high in the cloudless sky, the green tabletop shaded by an umbrella. The four men stared at the cards in their hands and each others' eyes, looking for hints of weakness or the tiniest clue to gain the upper hand in their little game. A slight breeze carried away the cigar smoke that came from their mouths and the single ashtray in the sun. They all wore similar clothing, snow camo pants and black long sleeved or sleeveless shirts. One man sitting at the north end of the table had a brown bushy moustache and evidence of a recently shaved beard, his eyes bright green with traces of cybernetic enhancements. He tossed the two cards in his hand onto the table facedown and tapped the cigar on the ashtray.

"Fold." He stated quickly, taking care to divulge nothing from his actions. The man to his left was about to make his move when a metal automatic door from the room inside screeched open, and heavy footsteps were heard walking towards the men out on the balcony. The man opened one of two doors separating the balcony and the inside room and saluted the four men immediately. When the man at the head of the table nodded to him to be at ease, the man clad in Space Marine armor loosened his stance and spoke.

"Captain there's been an incident, a temporal anomaly on the outskirts of the Loriar District." The Marine cringed waiting for the man's reply, but all he did was let out a deep sigh, blowing smoke all over the table.

"When did it happen?" The Captain asked calmly, tossing the cigar over the balcony.

"About nine this morning."

--

Aprox. 0900 Hours

Shepard knew it was futile to open his eyes, even with his helmet sealing the atmosphere. He could feel and hear an endless wind passing in all directions, surrounding him and Miranda as they floated outside of space-time and drifted through the millennia. He felt Miranda grab him tighter, planting her arm into the soft armor along his back while inching her fingers along the time travel device's container. Shepard finally opened his eyes to try and see Miranda's face, but in the void there was no light or sound, only the harrowing wind. They could only endure, and hope they would end up in a safe place, if only such a thing existed in the 41st millennium.

Shepard thought of the eras that would come to pass long after his passing, and where he would end up they would be long forgotten. He then thought of how he got into this mess. He remembered his service on the SSV Prometheus, and the first encounter with the man he now knew to be Commissar Grissom. He then remembered the wondrous objects he found in the chunk of an Ultramarines Battle Barge that led him on a crusade to use this technology for the betterment of humanity and its allies. With the help of his friends and comrades he used a Boltgun to kill Saren Arterius, and when he returned from this experience he would use the Space Marine power armor to kill the Collectors.

Miranda thought about whether or not it was a good decision to go with Shepard, if their feelings for each other compromised their ability to make the right decisions. But each time she thought about putting the mission before her feelings she shut it down and told herself that she would follow him into hell itself if necessary.

Moments later the black void gave way to a rising sun over a grey horizon, blinding the both of them for several seconds. Shepard noticed they were falling rapidly, so he turned his back to face the ground to protect Miranda. With a huge splash they both landed in a shallow stream, and Shepard was knocked unconscious by the impact. Miranda was still disoriented by the sudden switch from the void to this unknown place, but she noticed her rebreather had shattered, pieces of it lay on Shepard's torso and some flowed down the stream. She ripped off the other pieces from her face and tossed them down the stream.

--

Miranda struggled to pull Shepard onto dry land while he was in the power armor, the only way that seemed to work was pulling him by his arm, but as she inched along she noticed the stream cut through a rundown city. Skyscrapers in varying degrees of disrepair flanked the stream on both sides, and crowds of people peered out of the large windows and at the other end of the stream when they heard the crash.

"Here let me help." A young woman came to Miranda's side and grabbed Shepard's other arm and pulled him onto the gravel covered edge of the stream. Unbeknownst to them both, Shepard was slowly regaining consciousness.

"How did it happen?" The young woman asked Miranda, responding only with a raised brow. "How did the Astartes fall into the river?"

"Oh, um…" Miranda hadn't the slightest clue what she meant by 'Astartes', but she assumed the woman meant Shepard. "I'm not sure really, I heard this crash and there he was."

"It's okay Miranda, I'm fine." Shepard got to his feet and patted her on the shoulder, his voice now intimidating thanks to the Space Marine helmet speaking volumes to the townspeople. He then noticed the woman standing next to Miranda, and analyzed her like Thane did when he recalled any one of his memories. _Young woman, no older than twenty-five, tan skin, good figure, purple hair and blue eyes, black lipstick on upper lip, black flame tattoos on torso and arms, scavenged armor on both legs, excluding right thigh. Most likely resident, attire and concealed pistol on waist reveals subject may be hostile given violent tendencies in humans in this time period._ He snapped out of his trance a moment later and removed his helmet, making a hissing sound as the pressure equalized.

"What's with all of the commotion Janice?" An old man asked from the back of the crowd, which parted quickly so the man could examine the cause of the incident. He was a pale old man with a cheery face, despite his light wrinkles and a robotic left eye, he walked with a hardwood cane and had a crooked back. He wore a torn crimson monk robe, ornamented with a necklace with a two-headed eagle on it and two wax seals on his belt that served to hold two long and thin pieces of paper under the seals. His voice changed immediately upon seeing Shepard's armor, "I apologize, sir. I meant no disrespect." The old man said nervously.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you all." Shepard stated to the crowd, "But we are not who you think we are." He patted his armor down, and then noticed the device was gone. He looked to Miranda who had taken a seat on the fallen rubble of a ruined building, wringing out her beautiful black hair and clothing of water. She pulled the device from behind her and handed it to Shepard. After giving a sign of relief he took the device and showed it to the crowd, "This is a time travel device created by Commissar Grissom, he requested aid from my time period, and we have come to fulfill his request."

"A bold claim my boy." The old man replied, "You don't know much about us do you? Because you see, claims like that can get you killed." The tan woman pulled her concealed pistol as if the man's sentence was a command, and pointed the pistol at Shepard.

"A few weeks ago, in my time, my team and I helped to take down a Chaos Warship. We killed every single damned heretic on that ship and then after we took the device we blew it to pieces." Shepard ignored the pistol in the woman's hand and spoke with a bold tone. "For years I have studied your time, and even though we are the same race we live in such different times we could never coexist, but I assure you we stand to rid this galaxy of every last one of these time travel devices and vow to kill all who seek to use them for foul means. Killing me or my partner would leave your galaxy at such a disadvantage any hope of keeping Chaos or the Xenos from this power would be lost!"

The crowd was moved by his speech, Shepard wondered if he simply had a talent for diplomacy, or it was simply because of he was wearing the armor, he could not tell but he was relieved when the tan woman holstered her pistol. "I think we are going to get along just fine." The woman said.

The tan woman, who Shepard came to know as Janice, led both him and Miranda toward a moderately damaged building that reached high into the sky, seeming to be the tallest in the entire area. Inside stood two Kasrkin Stormtroopers wearing light brown armor and grey fatigues, and just like Lance they wore grey cloth masks instead of rebreathers and opaque blue sunglasses. Shepard remembered some of the videos from the Ultramarines logs included some information on the Imperial Guard, and the ever present tension between the two. Shepard had only seen heavily armored Guardsmen in the service of Inquisitors and the main troopers serving as planetary defense forces, Shepard assumed they were the latter.

"Where are we?" Miranda asked Janice, who only replied after a fence door quickly closed behind the three of them.

"This is an elevator." She replied, then a sudden beep startled Miranda and Shepard as the room began to ascend. Miranda was surprised she was on an elevator, noting the ten by ten windowless room was rather large to be an elevator.

"Then where are we going?" Shepard asked.

"This city uses a network of aboveground trains to allow fast travel between the districts. And due to the urgency of your situation it would be better to use the rails to get to the other side of the city."

"How do you know about the time travel device?" Miranda asked, interrupted by a robotic voice stating arrival and departure times, but continued when the voice stopped.

"About twenty terran years ago, Grissom announced his miraculous find to the galaxy. The problem was… its alien technology. Apparently it came from a race we haven't come across yet."

"Should have known." Shepard replied, but allowed her to continue.

"He wanted to reach out to the far past, talk to you guys and keep shit like hating aliens, psykers, and the Horus Heresy from happening. Since then, everyone has spilled blood trying to get the technology, and this Segmentum has been at the heart of the battle."

"We aim to stop any more violence, destroy this time travel device once and for all." Shepard spoke in his bold tone again. The elevator came to a sudden stop and the fence door opened, revealing a small terminal of sorts that led to trains that spread out in every direction except behind the elevator. Shepard looked out of the thin window panels that stretched around the entire room and noticed they were at the tip of a vast city, far larger than anything he had seen before. It dwarfed Los Angeles, Manhattan, London, Tokyo, and perhaps even the Citadel.

"Follow me, we have a ways to go." Janice led them to the train opposite the elevator, ferrying them inside just moments before it departed. The seats on both sides were filled with people with a multitude of appearances. Many of them were leaning over, hiding their faces. The stench of industry and smoke choked the air, and nearly every citizen on the train had some type of cybernetic implants, from robot eyes to prosthetic spines. Shepard quickly could tell the difference between who were the harmless citizens and those who could fight, and it was their skin tone. Everyone was so pale, like the life was sucked out of them, but there were a rare few, including Janice, who had healthy skin and were in good shape. Janice especially looked to be in better shape than some Alliance soldiers he used to know. Miranda looked out the window on the right wall of the cramped train car, staring at the vista below. The sea of grey buildings amazed her, thousands of structures standing high above the trudging citizens below, emitting steam and smoke from power plants and titanic foundries. She could not fathom the amount of people that lived in the slums, in the high-rises, in the apartments and the cathedrals. The grand cathedrals overflowing her senses with awe from the gothic motif touched the sky with sharp spires and pitch black roofing covered in ornaments and paintings degraded by the unhealthy air. But with all of the dread and the sorrow the sun rising behind the train cast a light on the city that cast away such feelings. It was then she finally understood how far away from home she was, separated not only by space but by tens of thousands of years. Only a month ago she would was so loyal to the group that raised her, even though it was a human supremacist group she called the group her family. When she got to know Shepard she slowly changed, finding the error in her ways for believing in such a group. Now, as Miranda was transfixed on how humans went about their daily lives in such a terrible galaxy no more than an era beyond her time, a mixture of emotions clouded her mind, and she became detached from the world for but a moment. The train came to a sudden halt soon after, nearly knocking her off her feet.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Silver Arm

After descending from the terminal via a similar elevator to the one from before they found themselves in a drastically different place. Shepard remembered the other townsfolk to be much less threatening and more humble than the crowd that stood before them. Here he could tell was the home of the true scum and villainy of the galaxy, nasty and foul men and women sat in groups or walked the streets in suspicious manners and tried to hide their concealed weapons and frail figures with large robes or coats. Shepard's rule still applied here, he didn't see any of them as a real threat because they were all out of shape, pale and thin and undisciplined. He was disgusted by their rotted teeth, poorly maintained cybernetics, torn robes and rusted weapons, and most of all, their despicable stare.

One of them approached the trio as they departed from the elevator, paying no mind to the peasants that scattered to random places after leaving the elevator. "Janice, looks like you got some new friends." The man was tin and bald, his eyes replaced with tiny green robotic eyes, all of his teeth and part of his tongue were metal, and wore a torn fur collared coat that reeked of urine. His voice was rasped and sounded faintly British to Shepard, "Am I going to have to report your friend for stealing Astartes property? Or have you finally decided to sleep around in the monastery?"

Shepard launched his fist into the man's face like a steel piston, throwing him back onto his ass a few feet back and landing in a small area of mud on the badly paved street. Blood gushed from the man's already crooked nose and mixed with the mud as it trickled down the side of his face, the man was out cold. Now with the entire block of shady characters gazing at him, Shepard made a gesture to all of them to try and attack him. All of them inched back slightly in fear of him and the two women at his side. Janice gestured to go to the left and the other two followed.

"The wastes aren't far, just about half a mile up this street." Janice stated, "Stay close, a lot of these folk are-" Gunfire interrupted her statement as flashes from gun barrels could be seen just a few blocks away. Shepard pulled his Revenant and sprinted down the street, the power armor increasing his speed tenfold. Miranda pulled the Avenger rifle from her back and followed Shepard, although not at superhuman speed. Janice mumbled something to herself and pulled a modified Hellgun from her waist, allowing it to expand and transform in front of her as the once compact gun became a full fledged rifle.

--

Giant white skinned monsters stared down the barrels of the guns of the scum and villainy type characters combating them. Each creature was so utterly large than the humans that it was simply no contest for the untrained criminal types. On the creatures backs were bony purple carapaces, and on their multiple pairs of arms dark red talons tore into the dozen or so humans trying to fight off the creatures. Shepard looked at one and the bright red blood spattered all over its mouth and arms, some of it was fresh, and some of it wasn't, but it truly scared him. Only one creature in this dark future was merciless enough or mindless enough to kill, maim, and then eat their victims out of sheer need for food: Tyranids. From the bulbous head and multiple pairs of arms he could tell they were what the Ultramarines call 'Genestealers'.

After inserting Jacob's special 'Boltgun' ammo mod, Shepard pulled on the trigger with all of his might and sprayed fire into the pack of Genestealers, each bullet shaking the rifle as they were launched from the chamber like miniature missiles. As goldenrod flames flashed from the barrel, Shepard let out a war cry as he continued shooting. One creature lifted its four arms and charged at the Commander, acid drool pouring from its mouth, its narrow minded brain only hungering for his flesh and guts. With the last few bullets Shepard brought the thing down and its once fearsome screams and roars fell silent. Miranda came up behind him just in time to see the white hot thermal clip fly from the side of the Revenant and onto the ground. She dove to catch it before it rolled into a sewer, being careful to only touch the cool base of the object. He was about to ask why she did that, but then he remembered that thermal clips, and even mass effect technology in general was either lost or obsolete in this time. Easily inserting a fresh thermal sink into the gun, the gold hologram circuit lines returned and shined brightly on the rifle, the picture of a two-headed eagle appearing next to the scope.

Miranda hopped up and began to glow an eerie blue, dark energy churning all around her as she charged up a massive biotic attack. With a feral scream she lifted herself into the air slightly and with the wave of her arm one of the Genestealers flailed about after a Warp attack pierced its hardened skin and gravely wounded it. The creature behind it opened its jaw and charged at her in retaliation, its three arms (Shepard shot one off, but it didn't seem to mind) ready to tear into her beautiful skin. Miranda drew her Carnifex in one hand and the Tempest in the other, firing both at once at the Tyranid as she strafed to avoid its lunge. This was indeed a feet given the drastic variation in recoil between the two guns. A few shots to its large head made caused enough pain to knock it down, the Tyranid fell forward and was knocked prone for but a moment. Janice came at it with her Hellgun aiming at its incapacitated form and shot bursts of laser fire into its skull.

Shepard figured this fight would have been much harder, he remembered that these creatures could easily overpower mighty Space Marines in combat. Many times he watched the vids from a Marine's HUD log as they picked up the mighty heroes and tore them to shreds, only to be stopped by a squad leader with a close combat weapon or bolter fire after the first squad had been slain. Then he looked around, dozens of bloody corpses of vigilantes and criminal henchmen had softened the creatures up for him and Miranda. And before the pack of monsters stood three mighty heroes, Shepard was once an Alliance soldier, and yearned to be considered one after his dealings with Cerberus. He was eager to tell the Illusive Man to go to hell and paint over every damn Cerberus logo inside and outside of the Normandy when it was over. Over time he even convinced Miranda to understand his perspective and even change her opinion of the organization altogether. Miranda was a good soldier herself, constantly being heckled by Shepard for her choice in weapons. But her extensive biotic powers and resourceful knowledge in technology made her a brilliant asset to the team. Janice was something else, under that model figure was a warrior with a deep determination and high resolve. He could see in her eyes that she was indeed a dauntless woman. The Tyranids were one of the greatest of many evils that threatened humanity, and could send many running with fear, but she gripped her worn rifle and stood toe to toe with the last of the Genestealers, making sure they would not touch another soul.

Moments later the last of the Tyranids fell, leaving a gory scene of death and blood in their wake. Shepard looked around for more, and then turned to Janice. "Where the fucking hell did those come from?" He screamed at the woman with frustration in his voice, but she stood there unaffected, "I may not know about your city or this world, but I know enough to understand that those things come by the thousands! Are you just going to stand there while the rest of them breed more and more until they overrun your planet?"

"They are overflow from the Wastes." Janice replied calmly.

"Explain. Now." Shepard pulled away and stood up straight, folding up the Revenant and putting it on his back.

"The Wastes is an expanse of abandoned city streets between here and the Fate Breakers' Fortress Monastery. It's also where the _isolated_ remains of a tyranid nest are held. The Space Marines decided to go to great length to instead of going into the sewers and sacrificing hundreds of men to eradicate the last of the xenos, they isolated it. The Astartes use it as a 'rite of passage' for potential aspirants. Make it to the other side, and you probably will get a chance to become one of them."

"I'm guessing you want to take us to see the Space Marines on this world?" Miranda asked, wiping the dirt from her clothes.

"Indeed, the Fate Breakers are the main group heading the task of finding Grissom's device. They will be interested in what you have to say."

Shepard was about to reply when he noticed a large shadow cast onto the ground, he pulled out his rifle quickly and pointed it at the roofs above. Miranda and Janice looked up as well to see a single Tyranid dive down towards them. Janice and Shepard were quick enough to pull their weapons and open fire, but the creature had its sights on Miranda, who lifted her right arm to fire a Warp attack. The creature's jaw clenched down on Miranda's arm and basically swallowed the biotic attack as its lime colored teeth reached all the way to her shoulder, the resulting pain making her attack unstable and detonate inside its mouth. The Genestealer landed oddly but kept its grip on Miranda tight, the others hesitating for a second as they feared for the woman's life. Shepard only focused on the fact that it had Miranda it its jaw, and would do anything to save her. Sounds became muffled and his surroundings blurred as he angrily opened fire of the alien monster. Between the pain from the landing, the explosion it its mouth, and the gunfire, the Tyranid thought that what was in its mouth was enough for now. Quickly and violently shaking Miranda about, she flew from its grip and hit the ground hard. It retreated into the empty streets south of them and disappeared. Shepard chased the creature for about a block, still firing, but then Miranda gave out a long moan.

Shepard sprinted back and came to Miranda's side, her white suit now spattered with blood and covered in dust. He looked in horror at her mangled and mostly missing right arm, violently gnawed away up to her shoulder. She was fading in and out of consciousness, the pain was so great she tried her hardest to keep from screaming until she blacked out. "Where is a doctor?" He screamed at Janice, mostly unshaken by Miranda's condition. She wondered if helping them was the best idea, but then Janice looked into Shepard's eyes. She saw the unmistakable sense of a bond he had for the woman on the ground. This was only a bond between two lovers, one she used to have with another.

"This way, there is a clinic two blocks north!" Janice went to help Miranda up, but Shepard picked her up and held her tightly in his arms, caring not for the blood that would tarnish his armor. As he followed Janice, citizens peered out of high and low windows and doors, curious of the situation. She yelled a command to some as if she had been here hundreds of times and knew everyone by name. She ordered a man tinkering in a garage to get up and help, and two other people huddling around a fire on the sidewalk to get up and get a third person.

--

In a rundown promenade sat the workings of a not too busy medical clinic. Patients on the exposed beds were attended to by cyborg doctors for simple things like a cough or problems with cybernetic implants, while serious cases were ferried into sterile tents closed to the outside. At the promenade's center a fountain with a statue of the immediately recognizable figure of the Emperor, with robed servitors polishing the statue and the fountain itself while other servitors tended to the water purifiers to keep the water free of sludge and waste. On the lip of the fountain sat a mostly normal looking middle aged man with orange hair and wore a tattered lab coat, he sat looking a datapad until Shepard and Janice ran up to him screaming his name.

"Doctor Terrence! We need help!" The doctor saw the bleeding woman in Shepard's arms and without asking any questions got to work. He bellowed orders to many of his staff while some others came up behind Janice and Shepard. He was ordered to bring Miranda into a tent before he could hear what Janice was saying to the two men that approached her. "Good to see you again, Preston, Kenneth." She bowed slightly to the both of them. "I need you two to do me a favor." They both nodded eager in anticipation, "I need you to make a right arm for the injured woman the Astartes brought here."

--

Shepard sat outside the grey tent with his head between his legs. Staring at the ground and listening to the muffled voices of the people inside. He asked himself why he let her come with him. This was truly a dark and dangerous future, humanity was surrounded by traitors and evil aliens while slowly declining into its own anarchy. And yet he let her grab hold of him and pressed the button that isolated them from the past by thirty-eight thousand years. He pulled out the glass cylinder with the grey marble floating in the center. He thought that if they could leave at any time, why not send her back? He would most likely be trapped here but they could kill the Collectors without him. But after all of his thoughts of possible solutions to the problem at hand, one question burned in his mind. Did he love her enough to send her back alone, or would he risk her further harm by letting her stay?

"Sir, she is awake." A person peeked their head out from the tent and spoke to the Commander, forcing him to shoot up and walk inside. The same person hand him a cloth to hold over his face, as to not pass unwanted contagions.

Miranda was hooked up to odd looking machines that beeped and whirred, and her right shoulder was heavily bandaged and cleaned of blood. She looked up at him with a peaceful face and touched his armor with her fingertips, being careful not to move too much. "Hey… How are you?" He asked in a soft voice, kneeling beside her to be at eye level.

"That'll teach me to not to feed anything with sharp teeth again." She chuckled slightly, thinking of her lost arm.

"When we get back, Mordin will make you a new one." Shepard pointed at the bandaged stump, causing both of them to laugh.

"Coming through! Move it scrap for brains!" Two voices echoed from outside the tent, which parted as they came in. Two men rolled in a small cart with a polished chrome right arm, setting up shop opposite Shepard, which was conveniently on Miranda's right side. "You, Space Marine. Were opening up the wound again, so out." One of them stated. Shepard snickered and refused. They knew they couldn't force him so they moved him to the corner of the tent as the two men worked to attach the arm on the table to Miranda's right shoulder…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: The Wastes

Janice climbed over a large pile of rubble that was once a wall of a Manufactorum, jumping over pipes and soot covered chunks of concrete. She picked up her pace when her quarry was in her sight, a crashed camo green Aquila Lander spread out along the ruined floor of the factory. She slid down the rubble and ran towards the plane with a small square box in her hand. The Lander had severed in half, but other than that had been left mostly undamaged, meaning some of the internal equipment was still working. Janice head for the cockpit and squatted so she could fit inside, she sat down butting her back against a side wall and faced a console on the opposite wall. She wondered how such a cramped thing could be crewed, but she always thought about it when she visited the plane. Janice pulled a cord out of the side of the metal box and inserted it into the console, causing lights to flicker and turn on. She wiped the dust from the screens with her fingerless gloves and brushed away the cobwebs from the keyboard, looking for the headset she had used so many times. After finding it on the ground closer to the nose of the crashed flyer, she typed some commands into the keyboard, allowing static to fill her ears.

"Ground Control this is Volteaus. Come in Ground Control." She stated after fixing the microphone to be closer to her mouth.

After a few moments a reply echoed in her ears, "This is Battle Brother Leroy of the Fate Breakers, we read you Janice." The man's deep voice was slightly dulled by the static, but his message was clear.

"Ground Control, three people including myself shall be traversing the wastes. My two guests request an audience with the Captain."

"Ms. Volteaus, apparently there was a temporal anomaly at about 0900 this morning in the Loriar district. Did you see anything unusual on your way here?"

"Indeed I did, my two friends used Grissom's prototype device to get here. Apparently they're from M2."

There was a longer pause before the reply, "A guard detail will be waiting for you at the eastern gate. May the Emperor be with you."

"For the Emperor." Janice pulled the cord out of the console and let the metal box pull it back inside. She put the headset down and left the way she came.

--

Shepard sat on a crate checking all of his weapons, counting his thermal clips and cleaning his guns. Miranda had been asleep for a few hours, and Shepard was trying to avoid thinking about what had happened. The sun was now high in the sky, and it was turning out to be a nice day. Shepard saw it as an odd contrast, a depressed and ruined city cluttered with rubble and shady people, but in the light the shadows in the alleyways and inside the empty buildings faded, and a certain beauty came into view. Everyone here was happy, no matter their circumstances or their fate. He heard footsteps on the dirty cobblestone floor coming from Miranda's tent, and quickly turned his head to see who it was.

"It's a wonderful day, isn't it?" Miranda's right arm gleamed in the sunlight as she pushed it aside, consisting of fluted plates concealing any wires and tubes, it looked like she had simply put medieval knight armor on her fight arm. Compared to her sleek left arm the mechanical prosthetic was more muscular and slightly longer, but Miranda didn't seem to mind the way it looked. As she flexed and moved her new arm in every way she could think of, she approached him and took a seat beside Shepard on the crate. "You think it's too dangerous for me to stay here and you're possibly contemplating sending me home at the expense of trapping yourself here?"

"I don't want you to die here Miranda." Shepard replied without looking her in the eye, focusing on putting his weapons back in their proper place on his armor.

Miranda grabbed Shepard's collar armor and pulled him down to eye level, whispering into his ear, "I think I'll be holding onto the device for the time being." She pulled the soda can sized device from one of the leather pockets on his belt and slipped it into a similar pocket on her waist, "Just so we understand each other." Shepard chuckled softly and turned to face her. Their faces now only inches from one another.

"If you're awake, that means you're ready to go." Janice approached the two of them seemingly out of nowhere, she was now more heavily armed than she was a few hours ago, since she was now carrying her modified Hellgun, a shotgun, a silenced SMG, and belts covered in bullets and power packs. "We need to go sooner rather than later. The streetlights in the Wastes haven't been on for years. Walking in the dark is NOT a good idea."

"Then let's go. I've been waiting six years of my life to meet a Space Marine in person, and like hell I'm going to leave without doing that." Shepard replied.

--

The street that was once plagued with violence and death was now clean, the bodies of the aliens were burning at one corner while the humans that had given their lives fighting the Genestealers were gone, presumably to be given a funeral or thrown into the crematoriums after scavenged for valuables and weapons. Either way, the streets leading into the wastes were quiet.

"Five miles between here and the monastery?" Miranda asked, drawing her Avenger rifle.

"Five miles distance if it were a straight line…" Janice replied.

Shepard sighed and then laughed once, "But nothing's ever simple is it?"

"Nope, not here." Janice stated before turning to see if both of them were ready, "We need to get moving, and the best way to make up for lost time…" She started running, and moments later Shepard and Miranda followed.

--

The setting sun painted the grey town with an orange tint, but Shepard could tell that time was running out. "Here they come!" Shepard yelled through his helmet, covering Miranda and Janice with suppressive fire. At the end of the cobblestone street was a large set of stone doors, which Janice used on many occasions to get access to the sewers. Swarms of Hormagaunts shrieked in high pitched tones hungering for the fleshy things that had so willingly entered their domain. Janice ran inside and found a fuse box to the left of the doors, ripping the rusted cover off she looked at the cluttered network of wires and switches. Quickly ripping and connecting certain wires to each other, Miranda darted inside and used the left door as cover. Shepard failed to understand why bother with using cover at all. So far, less than half a dozen out of the hundreds of alien creatures carried ranged weapons, all of which were quite ineffective.

"We need these doors closed now!" Miranda yelled.

"Shut it! I'm going to have to find a longer way around from now on thanks to you!" The box flashed with several sparks, causing metal mechanisms on the back of both doors to come to life, forcing both doors closed.

"Get inside!" Miranda yelled again. Shepard fired more suppressive bursts before rolling back and darting into the closing space between the doors. As the Hormagaunts grew closer and closer, Miranda reached over the Commander and threw a wave of dark energy at the horde, knocking the front row back into those behind it, slowing their progress greatly. As soon as the doors slammed shut, they could hear talons scratching at the stone doors, but over time the scratching stopped, and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

Shepard pulled his helmet off and wiped the sweat from his face with his hand, "How the fuck do you survive through this crap?" He asked between his heavy breaths.

"Headshots. Lots of headshots." Janice leaned over for a few seconds catching her breath before turning on the light above the Hellgun's slanted barrel. Shepard got up and put his helmet back on, looking to Miranda for a new Thermal Clip. Each of the pockets on her pelt that held thermal clips were lined with a small amount of water, to help cool the clip for reuse. But overtime the water was getting less and less effective. She felt each pocket for a cool clip, when she got down to the lowest pocket she pulled out the clip and handed it to Shepard.

"No more shotguns or pistols for the time being, agreed?" Shepard nodded and turned on the two lights on the sides of his helmet, then followed Janice.

"Are these the sewers?" Shepard asked his guide as the trio walked down a long flight of steps, which was a tad problematic for him because the steps were a little too small for his large armored boots.

"Don't take off your helmet, Shepard. We are most definitely in the sewers." Miranda almost gagged before replying to the Commander, "How do you live through this smell Janice?"

"This is nothing compared to the landfills north of Loriar." Then Janice caught whiff of a new smell and nearly keeled over from it, "But _that_ is bad." She pointed her light at the bottom of the stairs, which continued for a good twenty feet. At the bottom a rotting carcass of a now unrecognizable Tyranid lay on its back, its torso had been ripped away and its guts sat inside half eaten and covered in excrements.

"Next time we go into a sewer I want a helmet." Miranda said while covering her mouth and nose with her metal hand, yearning for any freedom from the smell.

"Then wear actual armor, not that cheap rebreather. But you never got training in using armor at Cerberus did you?"

"Quiet." Janice raised her weapon when they reached the bottom, stepping over the carcass and sweeping the catacombs for signs of life. The sewers indeed carried the vile stench of decay and death throughout, but the lightless catacombs conveyed a true and ever present sense of danger. Every wall, every pit, and every stalking predator waiting to strike at the first wrong turn was completely hidden in the infinite darkness. The winding and shifting path was only revealed by the light of their weapons and Shepard's helmet. Whenever the slightest noise broke the chilling silence they all pointed their rifles in the noise's direction, but every time the origin was unknown. The darkness surrounded them, becoming an absolute veil of mystery and danger. They trekked through the filthy underbelly of the Wastes for an unknown amount of time, for it had no meaning in the abyss.

Suddenly, the ceiling began to shake, and dust and gravel fell into the water below. They immediately froze, turning of the lights on their weapons and Shepard's helm and huddled together. Large and heavy footsteps trudged above them, moving slowly and slamming its foot into the ground with each step. When it stopped just above them, a loud roar bellowed from above. The ferocious roar shook not only the barrier between the creature and the trio, but also filled them with a sense of fear that sent chills down their spines. Whatever it was, it was big, heavy, and hungry. After a few minutes, the creature left, and they decided to take a quick break in the abyss. Shepard put the lights on his helmet back on and put his helmet down facing the wall, allowing it to reflect slightly and dimly illuminate the area.

"What was that?" Miranda shuddered every time she thought about the creature. The humid sewers and sweat dripping down her temple made her hair cling to her face and dampen her blood spattered Cerberus uniform (replacing the Cerberus Symbol above her left breast with an Imperial Eagle just before the time travel).

"I don't know and I don't want to know." Shepard replied, flexing his hands that had once tightly gripped the Revenant rifle.

"It's only another half a mile to the surface, then just twelve blocks till we reach the monastery." Janice, showing the least amount of stress among them, pulled her violet hair into a pony tail and picked herself up, reactivating her Hellgun. "We have to move now."

"Janice behind you!" Miranda raised her Avenger rifle and showered the charging Tyranid Warrior with bullets. Many failed to breach its mighty carapace skin but Janice was quick enough to turn around and land a shot to the creature's face. The burst of laser fire lit the entire area for a brief moment with pale blue light, but Shepard got a clear look at the beast. Two arms with scythe like talons clawed forward eager to grab at its next meal, while two smaller arms had hands tipped with gore covered claws. Its white armored hide was soiled with the black sludge that flowed below the concrete walkways, and it was large enough to fill the entire hallway. Shepard almost forgot he had this with him but he could not think of a better time to use it.

"Hey, I just found a cure for ugly!" Shepard pulled the M-100 Grenade Launcher from his back and shot a few grenades into the alien's torso. Small but loud explosions came soon after and the Tyranid Warrior was thrown back by the blast and the wound. The impact knocked chunks of rock from the walls and sent waves of sludge back at everyone. Miranda, caring not for the fact she was drenched in sewage waste, kept the Tyranid down with waves of biotic attacks. Janice removed the Shotgun from her back and cocked it once to remove a previous shell, loaded it, and pulled the trigger. The Warrior paid the shotgun pellets little mind while it got to its feet, but when Janice aimed for the gaping wound in its torso the creature stumbled a few times. Each shotgun blast lit the hallway for a fleeting moment, allowing everyone to see the Tyranid was weakening.

"That's it!" Janice pulled a surprisingly long combat knife at charged at the Tyranid, jumping at its armored head and jammed the knife in. The blade glowed slightly as she jerked it to the right, twisted it once, and jumped away in time for the monster to fall silent in the running water.

"I _really_ want to get out of here now." Miranda yelled as she attempted to get the clumps of sludge from her uniform and face.

--

The air above ground was cooler, less humid, and carried the faint smell of the ocean into the city streets. They were no doubt getting close to the monastery. The starry night and the city lights cast a dim but acceptable light on the streets, no doubt an improvement from the pitch black sewers. The trio came up out of some passageway inside a roofless building. Janice led them out through a large hole in the building's left wall and pointed at the tower that dominated the landscape. Lights high and low from torches and grand colored lights made the tower gleam in a rainbow of colors. Light cascaded down the 'lines and curves of the tower's rough exterior, which bore a dozen flags and banners with the Chapter's heraldry, achievements, and battle company insignias. Stretching a few thousand feet into the air, the Fate Breakers' Fortress Monastery was a sight to behold, and after such a journey through the Wastes Shepard and Miranda yearned for the safety of the sanctuary.

As they began to sprint from where they were to the fortress, hundreds of Hormagaunts came out of nowhere, but all screamed for the chance at gorging on the guts and flesh of humans once again. Hails of bullets from each of them did not stop or slow the encroaching hordes that surrounded them, and running was quickly becoming their only option.

"Suffer not the alien to live!" Bursts of explosive bullets halted the advance of the Hormagaunts, but none of three had any part in doing it. At the end of the block stood six or seven Space Marine Scouts, armed with specialized boltguns and shotguns. The blazing gold flashes that came from the gun barrels cast a dramatic undertone of light on the tall Scouts. Muscular men with chiseled chins and faces covered in battle scars guarded the boulevard from the oncoming horde. Some yelled prayers from the Codex, some gritted their teeth, and some simply let out a yell as they took down the mob of alien creatures. "The Captain is expecting you, go quickly!" Shepard could not tell which Scout was the one who spoke to him, but they got the message clearly. They ran past the Scouts and continued to run without looking back, meanwhile a Scout with a flamer filled the gap and closed the road off completely; the last sound in Shepard's ears was the brilliant sound of roasting alien bugs.

A granite wall stood firm at the edge of the city, slowly opening for the fast approaching group. Spotlights were shining bright on them as they drew closer, and in moments they were all inside. Breathing heavily with fatigue and relief, they all just sat down on the ground and caught their breath for a few minutes, until a towering man wearing power armor approached them. His face was hidden by a helmet, but his posture and manner of walking gave him a bold, knightly, and regal air about him. His armor despite the interesting choice of colors, was covered in few ornaments save for the Crux Terminatorix on his left pauldron. "Ms. Voltaeus, we've been expecting you."


	4. Chapter 4

_(Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, but I have not written this deeply about 40k in a long time. The last time I didn't do so well, so I'm trying my best to keep this from breaking any SM canon/fluff. This is my DIY loyalist chapter but any suggestions for improvements or revisions are welcome.)_

Chapter Four: The Fate Breakers

Six years of sacrifice, hardship, and toil had led Commander Shepard to this point. His time on the Prometheus and his life changing encounter, the wreckage of the Battle Barge and its spoils, becoming a Spectre, saving the galaxy, and even dying at the hands of the Collectors only to be resurrected two years later. It all led him to this point, when he stood on polished marble steps that led up into the depths of a towering Fortress Monastery. The night sky was offset by the tower's many lights, guards covered in ornaments and strips of paper attached by wax seals stood flanking the group on every stair. The three of them waited about a dozen feet from the entrance while the network of gears on both sides of the thick stone doors cranked and whirred, opening the doors to allow the group inside. Shepard remembered the insides of Ultramarines' Monasteries from the vids, candlelit abodes made of black cobblestone floors and archways decorated with gothic figures and intimidating gargoyles. He pictured that what was behind the opening doors was no different. Then he wondered how they would act. He pictured them as solitary, collected, and serious individuals, living only to serve and to protect the ways of the Emperor.

The two stone doors finally opened, and a bright, warm light engulfed the group. After so many hours of traversing the Wastes the sudden reprieve from the stench, the dirt, and the darkness put Shepard and Miranda at ease, while Janice found waiting for the doors to open to be tiresome and annoying.

When both doors were fully open, Shepard could clearly see a gigantic man holding a sheathed sword under his palms, his stance was regal and perfect, his countenance intimidating but inspiring, the man's crimson cape fluttering in the ocean wind. "Second Master Riker Ventralis, Fate Breakers Space Marines."

Janice did not expect such a cold welcome, she pictured a crowd of hearty crowd of towering heroic men cheering upon her return, their minds eager to hear the latest tales of her survival of the Wastes. Now, the Monastery's Master and his Honor Guard stood ready for battle, all displeased to see the new arrivals. "These two came by Grissom's prototype, they want to help us end this stupid war over it." She stated to the caped Marine.

"We know, Janice." The Master replied, "But I will not grant them asylum until they prove their loyalty to humanity and the Emperor." The various Space Marines guarding the marble stairs pulled their weapons and pointed them at Shepard and Miranda. "Speak quickly strangers, I do not have all night to listen to the lies of xeno sympathizers or heretics."

"You know, I still don't understand why saying the man's name gets a gun pointed at me. I mean I don't know what he's done to deserve such treatment here but when he for I know sacrificed himself to contact our time he did so with a dream. He wanted to keep the galaxy from spiraling down into the mess it's in now. He wanted humans and aliens could coexist, which they do in my time. He had a dream that hate and violence could be overcome by good ideals and honest people. He had a dream that by showing us your world he would keep us on the proper path. I don't know if your opinion of him will keep you from believing what I believe, but I came here to complete a mission and you are not going to stop me!"

They may not have shown it at first, but the Space Marines were moved by his speech. Their mighty boltguns lowered and their wielders stood at ease. Ventralis sighed, thinking long and hard about what Shepard had said to him. "You will be given accommodations for the evening, Janice will be more than happy to lead you to them, and in the morning we will sort this out. I hope further dealings between us will be less… confrontational in the future." Ventralis turned and walked back into the monastery, his grey cape dramatically flowing behind him.

--

The main room hat served as the Monastery's "lobby" was drastically different from how Shepard had pictured it. This room was well lit with warm colors and the fragrant smell of ale and hot meals filled the air. In all of Shepard's travels, he could only relate this room to that of an old English pub. Scattered across the wide circular room were varying sizes of wooden tables, the only thing in common between them was they were tall enough for only the use of Space Marines. At each table sat both armored and unarmored soldiers, conversing and laughing while sharing tales of courage and honor from recent battles. Their color scheme was very unique as well, their armor was jet black save for bright patches of winter camouflage on the outer thighs and shoulder plates (truth be told I based the color scheme off of the Titan armor in ME1), and beside many of the armored Space Marines sat their trusted helmets, painted bright red save for the bone colored faceplate and ebony lenses.

"Ho!" Janice has returned!" One Space Marine bellowed in a hearty voice from across the room, visible only by the hand raising a pint glass.

"And if the mistress is here, than a score of Tyranids lay dead in her wake!" A second voice added, quickly followed by the others letting out a cheer.

"Yes, I have returned to you once more." Janice bowed to the room full of marines, "But tales of my deeds will have to wait till dawn, Master Ventralis has given me the duty of seeing these two acquaintances of mine upstairs. And I do not have the vitality of glorious men such as yourselves." She ended her sentence with a yawn and a wide stretch of her arms.

"We understand, milady." The Space Marine closest to them replied, "The three of you deserve rest after ridding us of so many of those filthy xenos."

"Is there any particular reason you are so trusting of us? Didn't you hear Ventralis's conversation outside?" Shepard asked as the stone doors locked behind them.

"I paid more attention to my meat and by beer than to Ventralis's business. And until I know more, all I see is an old friend and two warriors strong enough to survive the Wastes. In my book, that makes you alright."

"From my experiences with the Ultramarines their bonds between the ranks is more like a brotherhood than an army. Why are you guys different?"

"You'll find we act differently off the battlefield. Don't get me wrong I respect and honor the Master, but I don't know him to well as a person, none of us really do. You should ask him later for more details. You're certainly getting more of a chance than most of us."

Janice led Shepard and Miranda to a row of secluded elevators behind a wall at the other end of the vast circular hall. With the swift push of a dusty button an annoying siren buzzed for a few seconds and an elevator more accommodating to the size of Space Marines opened. Upon walking inside, the elevator doors cranked shut and the room shot upward. Janice pressed many buttons at a small console, after it beeped once she stepped away. Moments of silence allowed Shepard to hear what as playing in the elevator, he laughed as he took of his helmet, pausing only to gag from the group's stench. "Some things never change do they?"

"What do you mean?" Miranda replied.

"The elevator music." As Miranda joined Shepard in laughing, Janice raised a brow, puzzled by them both.

--

After a hot shower, a chance to change/clean their clothes, some food, and a good night's rest rejuvenated both Shepard and Miranda. He woke up first, on the top bunk of a normal sized bunk bed. The sun cutting through the slits in the vertical blinds hurt his eyes, causing him to turn away for a moment. Shepard then turned back, avoiding the bright light, and focused on his power armor. It sat against the wall leaning towards the bunk on the opposite side of the small room, the dirt and mud and unsanitary sludge removed, the paint and polish redone, and all remnants of talon and tooth marks were gone. Taking care not to make a sound when he jumped from the bed to the cold metal floor, he picked up the armor piece by piece and rearmed himself. He then checked each weapon and his store of thermal clips, all of which were cool and ready to go.

"Going somewhere?" Miranda, sleeping in the bunk under Shepard's, pulled the gunmetal grey bed sheet from her face, rubbed her eye, and sat up. With her left hand she brushed away a lock of stray black hair from her face, hoping Shepard would admire her barely dressed body. His gaze however immediately went to her metallic right arm, hoping that the event that transpired the day before was a terrible nightmare. Small armor plates ran from the prosthetic right shoulder to as far as the edge of her right collar bone and breast, ending with blue lit nodes that from what Shepard could tell went down into her skin.

"Not really. Janice said she would come for us when the Space Marine Captain summoned us. I'm guessing we'll have to wait until she or someone else comes."

"You won't have to wait very long." Janice's voice emanated from Shepard's helmet and caught their attention. Shepard reached down to pick it up, and pressed a button on the side of the helmet, basically turning it into a speaker phone. "Now that both of you are awake, the Second Master will see you at floor 107."

"How did you know we were awake?" Miranda asked, taking the clothes folded neatly on a metal cabinet at the foot of the bunk bed and putting them on. Her blood spattered and sludge covered Cerberus uniform was now replaced with a repurposed officers uniform from an Imperial Guardsmen, with all of the patches, medals, and badges removed it was a simple dark red shirt and black pants (Miranda tore away the right sleeve to show off her metal arm).

"This entire tower has internal motion trackers. If two people are movin' around in my room, I'll know about it. Anyway you shouldn't keep him waiting."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Orientation

Ventralis stood firm in the sparring circle, spinning two wooden longswords in his hands. His eyes were locked with the bald man on the other side of the ring, who grasped a long wooden stave and stood in a battle stance. Neither of the two men wore any piece of power armor, and instead wore old but well kept martial arts robes tied by black belts at the waist. Surrounding the borderless circle sat many Space Marines, some where there to be official witnesses, and others simply wanted to watch, but whoever did not bring their own folding chair sat on the ground. The beat of feudal drums filled the room from small speakers hidden in the walls and ceiling, and the faint holograms of the drum players lined the walls. The fight had already begun, but neither made a move towards the other for a long while…

The bald man made the first move, swinging the stave upward under Ventralis's guard. Ventralis knocked the pole away with one blade and stabbed at the man's right shoulder. He strafed to the side to dodge, sweeping the stave under Ventralis's legs. Losing his balance for only a moment, Ventralis began to fall to the floor, quickly catching himself with his right arm and flipping himself over to the other side of the stave with a single flip. Before both of his feet touched the ground again, he kicked the bald man's stave further away with one foot and swung the blade in his left hand at the man's face. The bald man pulled his stave back towards his body and swiftly blocked the wooden blade. In the corner of his eye he could see Ventralis back on his feet and swinging the second blade towards his hip. His opponent countered by sliding the stave down to block again, and simultaneously overpowered Ventralis's left blade and let the smoothed end of the stave make full contact with his left cheekbone. Showing no sign of pain or surprise, Ventralis brought the blade in his right hand down on the right side of the bald man's neck.

Shepard and Miranda walked into the vast room quietly, as to not disturb the events transpiring within. Then, Shepard saw a fully armored Space Marine not to far from the doorway gesturing for them to come over. They could see the fight in the center of the room thankfully because the many Space Marines surrounding them were sitting on the floor. His torso was covered in small ammo packs and grenades, as was his belt, and on his "Shepard was it? I'm Sergeant Oburo Reamus, squad commander of Sternguard Epsilon. I'll be in charge of your 'orientation' once you and the Master get acquainted." While the helmet he wore augmented his voice greatly, Shepard could tell he had what sounded like a British or Australian accent, sounding almost identical to an acquaintance of his.

"What's with the fight and the medieval Japanese drums?" Shepard asked the Sergeant, who was leaning against one of the many stone pillars that supported the domed roof, which didn't reach very far above them.

"The bald man dueling with Ventralis is Captain Kieran, Master of the Watch. He has been the Master's friend for many years, and has recently been undergoing the trials to become one of his Honor Guard. This is his final test, it doesn't matter if he wins or he loses, he simply must survive and in the end impress the Master."

Ventralis froze when the blade in his right hand reached Kieran's throat and the left pointed at his gut, but Kieran held his stave millimeters from Ventralis's right eye. After a few seconds of being at a standstill they both drew away from each other and bowed. Many of the marines clapped, but there were no cheers. Half a dozen Space Marines stood up and whispered to each other for a moment, and then nodded to Ventralis. The cheering then ensued as the clapping became louder. Soon after the Master walked away from the space in the center of the room and towards Shepard and Miranda, "Oburo, haven't spoken to you in a while." He stated as the reached over the duo and shook hands with the Veteran Sergeant. "Walk our guests over to the Situation Room, I will join you shortly." Ventralis walked out of the room and disappeared, and Reamus wasted no time in leading them into the room down the hall.

--

When Ventralis entered the Situation Room he did not come alone. Several squad sergeants, the Chief Librarian, the head Chaplain, and the Master of the Forge walked in. The room's oval shape was lined with vending machine sized computers, hologram displays showing star charts and battle plans, and in the center of the room was a long oak table, lit by a tall tilted window overlooking the ocean and the eastern coastline of the gloomy city. Ventralis, now fully armored in power armor, took a seat at the head of the table, allowing the Techmarine, the Librarian, and the Chaplain to be seated as well. The seven squad sergeants, including Reamus, stood surrounding the table.

"We're going to need to stand on the table, won't we?" Miranda asked staring at the lip of the table standing at least six inches above her.

"They won't answer Miranda." Shepard jumped up and grasped the lip of the table, pulling himself up before reaching down for her, "They expect us to know things like this." Miranda nodded with a silly looking smile and reached for his armored hand. When they stood on the table they were for once above the Space Marine's eye level, if only by a few inches.

"Now visitors, would you mind filling us in on how you managed to obtain Grissom's prototype?" Ventralis leaned forward in his seat after asking them to divulge such long awaited information.

Miranda nodded to Shepard, gesturing for him to go first. Shepard then activated the bright orange Omni-tool on his left arm, causing the Master of the Forge to quickly rise, "Well I'll be damned."

"What is it, Wayne?" The crimson armored Chief Librarian Epistolary Kuzon asked with a hint of genuine surprise in his voice. The Techmarine did not reply, but simply activated his own Omni-tool, enlarged to fit the bulky power armor.

"That's interesting." The Chaplain added, putting a hand to the chin of his skull helmet.

"I found this device in a scrap pile on a ruined Manufactorum on Necromunda. This thing was offline for nearly thirty-five thousand years before I found it… Who are you?"

"Before I answer any questions you ask, I have just one." Shepard asked, and Ventralis replied with a nod. "Why are there no women in the Space Marines?"

The Chief Librarian sighed and smiled, "It's a damn shame really, such a waste of talent. I mean look at Ms. Volteaus, she has spent most of her life killing the very beasts that we were created to slay. Most of us, and by that I mean most of the near million of us in the galaxy, wish there could be women in our ranks. And I don't mean it that for the wrong reasons, we simply could use the extra numbers."

"Thanks, I've wanted to know the answer to that for six years, anyway… We have come from the second millennium, a time quite unlike your own." Shepard and Miranda took turns talking about the extents of their own time. They spoke about the Citadel, the numerous aliens that came to call it home, and their relationships with humans. Shepard then brought up his encounter on the Prometheus and his quest to create the suit he wore now, and then of the looming threat of the Reapers.

"So you do not know if the Reaper fleets have been destroyed?" Ventralis slammed his fist onto the table and yelled in an alarmed tone. "We need to commission a task force to investigate this immediately! We must alert the Ordo Xenos immediately!"

"I doubt that is necessary at all, Ventralis." Epistolary Kuzon added, "If we are all here, then the Reaper fleets must have been destroyed. Don't get so trigger happy looking for ghosts."

"Do you have any pictures of these aliens, Commander Shepard?" The Chaplain asked. Miranda walked over to him while tapping buttons on her Omni-tool, allowing the rotating holo-disk on her knuckle to display a floating screen, displaying the pictures of every known species from the Standard Galactic Codex-2185. Shepard was hoping some or any of them would ring a bell, but every picture got no reaction from the many Space Marines in the room.

"Wait, go back to the last one." Miranda pushed another button, displaying a picture of an asari. "These are female Tau are they not?" The Chaplain asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Greater Good

"I assume you came up with a plan?" Miranda asked the Commander, sitting next to one another in a poorly lit Thunderhawk gunship, which was docked in the loading bay of the Battle Barge Immortal Valor. The hazardous but necessary flight through the immaterial warp shook the ship lightly but constantly, straining the outer hull making the bulkheads creak and moan like wandering spirits. Miranda tightly grasped the two gifts given to her by the Master of the Forge just days earlier, payment for fixing his Omni-tool and some other devices. One was a modified submachine gun with a long silencer on the barrel and the other was once an Exitus pistol now transformed by the hard work of a master Techmarine.

"Most of this was their idea, given the fact they have a think tank for nearly every threat in the known galaxy. The Fate Breakers have gotten word of Tau activity to the southeast of this sector. If we on the off chance find any asari among them, I proposed to the Master that we capture a high ranking one, preferably a field commander, and interrogate her. We need to find out why they turned away from the Council, and perhaps the whereabouts of the Citadel races themselves." Shepard replied as he checked his Revenant machine gun before putting it on his back and sealing the atmosphere inside his armor by sealing his helmet.

"But why, aren't we supposed to be focusing on finding Commissar Grissom and his main device?"

"If the Citadel is still around they probably know more than we do. They could tell us where he is, or maybe the exact details of this whole situation. There are a lot of unanswered questions all over, and getting a 41st millennium asari to answer some of them will certainly be a step in the right direction."

"Quiet Commander, there is talk over the vox network." Veteran Sergeant Reamus grabbed a pole just above the seats opposite Shepard and Miranda and put two fingers to the right side of his helmet. Everyone else followed suit, including the six other Sternguard veteran marines in the gunship. The creaking and moaning stopped as the ship jolted forward, signaling the exit from the warp.

"Come in, Adeptus Astartes, this is Staff Captain Claudius of the Providence III Planetary Defense Force, 16th Orbital Drop regiment, we have engaged the Tau on fronts all along the Elanus valley. Exact coordinates 16.01705 mark (interference and static). God dammit! Just get some men down here! We need help! They have Battlesuits that I've never seen before and lots of damn Infantry!"

"They're flanking us! Help! Were being overrun! Damn Vespid! Damn them all!"

"Watch the skies! Hammerheads and Sky Rays on your left, platoon!"

"We won't make it, all hell's breaking loose down here!"

"7th Armored Division, come in. I repeat, 7th Armored please respond. Lieutenant Bryce report!"

"Come on you maggots! Give em' a belly full o' lead, and a pool of blood to drown in!"

"Pull back! Pull back!"

Shepard and Miranda listened to the channel filled with sobbing cries and desperate shrieks for aid, laser fire and bellowing explosions, followed by the various signals cutting out completely. A sense of fear and dread washed over their minds. Shepard couldn't bear to listen to much more but he couldn't escape the reality of it either. Miranda wondered how can the same galaxy she lived in just weeks earlier turn into such a paranoid, treacherous, and violent place.

"Defense Command, this is Second Master Ventralis of the Fate Breakers. We've got Space Marines on the ground… We're not going anywhere."

--

The divine Tau Ethereal stepped from the Orca Gunship with a heavenly gusto, greeted by dozens of saluting Fire Warriors and Crisis Battlesuits standing at the ready. With a wave of his arm the squads of infantry marched into the depths of the Imperial Temple built into the mountains high above the hive city that surrounded it. Soon the Ethereal was left alone with only his guards whom he considered insubstantial until he felt they were needed and his trusted field commander piloting a glimmering white Battlesuit. Its arms, torso, and head were covered in curved and slender armor plates, which in vital areas were then layered with immediately recognizable Iridium Armor. Both arms bore a Plasma Rifle on each, but the left had a Missile Pod attached below the rifle.

The Battlesuit lowered itself and gave a bow, "Aun' Tekvosa." The unmistakable tone of a woman's voice stated through the speakers on the battlesuit. The Ethereal turned to face the Battlesuit and gestured for it to rise, and for it to follow him into the depths of the temple.

"Shas'O Shovah Kais Asari Kelanya, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." The Ethereal tapped the granite floor with his walking stick as he traveled alongside the towering battlesuit, which floated just inches above the ground.

"The fortress has been purged of its inhabitants and our troops are spreading out into the city below as planned. The humans on this world are no challenge to us." The commander replied, only for their conversation to be interrupted by the faint whine of thrusters. Both the commander and the Ethereal turned to see a small cluster of black dots getting larger and larger in the cloudy sky. Commander Kelanya magnified the image with the battlesuit's onboard computers, revealing a small squadron of crimson Thunderhawk gunships. "Get inside, sir. The humans have brought reinforcements." The Ethereal walked further into the temple and disappeared, the commander however returned to the open door, calling for squads to bunker down at her position. Soon brightly colored battlesuits emerged from the dim interior, their polished armor and bright lenses shined in the sun for the few moments it broke free of the veil of clouds.

--

Shepard and Miranda gripped whatever they could to keep themselves in their seats, but the accelerating Thunderhawk wasn't making it any easier. Miranda folded her new pistol away onto her hip and held her submachine gun in between her legs, allowing both hands free to work her Omni-tool. She put the Omni-tool to Shepard's earpiece, the tool made a few beeps and other mechanical noises, and a hologram visor appeared in front of Shepard's right eye. "What's this for?" He asked.

"Real-time thermal scanner, modified to detect asari and only asari. Since you've seen enough Tau to tell who's a valuable target and who's not, you'll have to let us know." Miranda replied.

"Thirty seconds to contact!" A voice from the cockpit above echoed in their ears from speakers throughout the hold.

"This is your last chance, do you wish to stay back or fight with us?" Veteran Sergeant Reamus asked while readying his chainsword and combi-plasma. The six other Sternguard veterans checked their own weapons and stood ready to load out.

"I, well I mean we," Shepard gave Miranda a quick glance before looking back at the Veteran Sergeant. "We didn't come all this way because you needed a diplomat. Like hell I'm taking a back seat while you guys get things done. Same goes for her."

"Shepard's right, we fight!" Miranda raised the submachine gun and enthusiastically proclaimed her choice. Though the squad of Space Marines were happy to see such zeal, Shepard was on the other hand silent and surprised. He had never seen her show excitement for anything, and yet here she was inciting a squad of super soldiers with a pledge to fight and perhaps die at their side.

"Fifteen seconds!" The pilot yelled. Some of the Space Marines towards the back of the gunship took a moment for battle prayers; Shepard stood up and squeezed the railing with both hands as hard as he could.

The Thunderhawk jolted to the left violently as it turned and suddenly decelerated. The heavy bolter sponson on the right side of the Thunderhawk came to life and greeted the Tau with a stream of gunfire. The front hatch separating the front of the Gunship from the rest of the world flew open, revealing the corner of a large landing pad built into the mountain. The Sternguard wasted no time and sprinted down the ramp and into the fray. Shepard grabbed the grip on his Revenant machine rifle and pulled it from his back, letting out a noble war cry and charged behind them. Miranda was at his side the whole time, bringing the long barreled Vanquisher submachine gun to bear. One of two gifts from the Master of the Forge, he had tinkered and experimented with it for decades in his spare time, the end result was wholly unlike what it originally was. Miranda wondered if she would have trouble with a weapon filled with real bullets and no mass effect fields, but her kill count would later give her the answer.

As the Thunderhawk pulled away from the landing pad, so did the crimson Orca on the opposite side of the drop site. Suddenly as its doors pulled into the gunship and closed to the outside world, a single earthshaking blast from another Thunderhawk's main cannon punched clean through the Tau transport and sent the flaming wreckage into the valleys below. Chunks from the wreckage landed on the path before Shepard and the Sternguard, conveniently providing cover for the Commander. Dust filled the air and veiled the area around him for but a moment, but it did not hide the two successive bangs. Shepard cleared the dust by waving his hand, revealing the gunship had dropped two Rhino tanks that immediately dropped their own payload.

Shepard ran for a small chest-high chunk of blood red metal just a few feet away. He ran forward firing the Revenant rifle on full auto, Miranda at his side firing controlled bursts into the Fire Warriors at the other end of the landing pad. The Space Marines emerged from the dust cloud moments later, caring not for the enemy's numbers or firepower. Shepard huddled behind the boiling hot twisted chunk of the Orca gunship, yet the Space Marines never went to ground or hid behind cover. The endless hail of pale blue laser fire flattened on their mighty armor, while golden flashes from their mighty boltguns ripped into their lines and took down almost a dozen in a few seconds. Radio chatter filled his ears as deep voices conversed back and forth with constantly changing battle tactics, soon there were more voices as two Tactical Squads loaded out from the Rhino tanks. Shepard picked his head up to join the fight, but he seemed insubstantial to them. He could understand why, decades of fighting and a grocery list of genetic enhancements made each and every Space Marine a hero without compare.

"We could use your help Shepard!" Miranda yelled while reloading her SMG, making Shepard break from his trance. He scanned the battlefield for possible targets, and then he put a hand to his earpiece.

"I have a confirmed scan on the battlesuit in the rear, looks like the field commander!" Shepard smirked after yelling over the radio.

"You heard Shepard, battle brothers! Apprehend the commander, but kill all xeno who stand between you and your mission!" A Squad Sergeant addressed his squad over the channel.

"Thank you, Commander. Now please get off your ass and help us fight!" Reamus added. Shepard lifted himself up and joined the fray. He was never used to leaving himself out in the open in such hostile situations, but he was also underestimating his own armor. For a reason he had no time to ponder, his shields were bearing the overwhelming amount of laser fire. The Fire Warriors could not hide behind the upturned dust due to their bright blue armor and bright red visors, but Shepard was more concerned with the multicolored battlesuits. Discharging a thermal clip, he resighted the rifle and aimed at the hovering constructs. "Is it just me or do they have… color-coded weapons?"

"That'll make them easier to shot off!" Miranda activated her Omni-tool and shot a single electric bolt at one of the battlesuit's bright green shoulder mounted missile pod, overloading vital systems which caused the weapon to freeze and spark violently. Miranda drew her Carnifex hand cannon and with two well placed shots caused the entire weapon to explode. The resulting explosion damaged the battlesuit's 'head', making it wobble and lose its balance. It finally came crashing down when two neon plasma bolts from one of the Tactical squads pierced the cockpit and killed the pilot. Miranda smirked and lost focus for less than a moment, allowing a long bolt of pulse rifle fire to break through her shields and hit her in the chest. After Miranda fell to the ground, Shepard screamed and ran ahead to see to her. But as soon as he was close enough, he could clearly see the wound was superficial at best.

Miranda clenched her fist and created a biotic barrier in place of her shields, floating to her feet with her biotics; she muttered some very vulgar things and charged for the heart of their ranks. Shepard followed, giving her cover with suppressive fire but Miranda seemed ignorant of it all. Charging biotic energy into her fists she lifted the remnants of one Fire Warrior squad into the air with the wave in her left arm and crushed them against the rock face behind them seconds later.

Rain poured down on the heated battle without warning, bringing up steam from the hot granite tarmac and the burnt but undamaged power armor of the Space Marines. Shepard noticed in between the rain drops the outline of bulky figures appeared around Miranda. "They have cloaks!"

"We see them too!" Reamus exclaimed, signaling his subordinates to target the shrouded soldiers flanking Miranda. Miranda could obviously seem them too, since threw her robotic fist supercharged with a warp attack into the torso of one of the Tau stealth soldiers, disabling the cloak and killing the wearer. Blood, oil, and wires flew from the wound as she continued on in her biotic frenzy.

"All squads get some suppressive fire on Lawson's position! Sergeant Verrazano set up the teleport homer!" Reamus bellowed brilliant tactics onto the radio channel the entire fight, and every man followed them to the letter. One of the Tactical squad sergeants retreated to the rear hatch of the Rhino tank he was dropped in and pulled a small beacon no larger than a hockey puck, tapping a button on it the beacon began flashing bright yellow. While Shepard lead the slow moving charge of Space Marines the space to his right seemed to warp and glow, and just then that glow seamlessly turned into the forms of five titanic Terminators who greeted the Tau with a flurry of storm bolter and assault cannon fire. If Shepard had not actually been fighting he would have fainted from all of the awe-inspiring sights he had taken in during the few minutes since he removed himself from the Thunderhawk.

"Hold this position you whelps! I am going to bolster the interior, protect the Ethereals!" The asari commander yelled in Tau language, which Shepard's translator easily picked up.

"She's getting away!" Shepard yelled.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." One of the Sternguard veterans, whose name escaped Shepard's memory, aimed his ornamented missile launcher at the archway's peak and shot. The missile brought enough rock down not to block passage into the temple, but enough to pin the battlesuit.

"Keep them spread out! Do not let them regroup or retreat!" Reamus once again yelled orders to the Space Marines.

"Give Lawson some help! She's doing more work than you are now!" The second squad sergeant bellowed to his group. Miranda continued onward, soaking what little fire that was focused on her with her shields and her biotic barrier. She lifted the rock chunks into the air with a biotic pull and dispersed them, meaning she threw most of the rocks into the remaining Tau squads. She then pried open the canopy of the mobile suit and found a barely conscious asari inside. The asari freed herself from the mess of wires and cables and used a single biotic push to throw Miranda a good twenty feet and right on her ass. Now locked in a biotic duel, the Tau and their piling losses meant nothing to either of them.

The asari floated out of the battlesuit and lifted Miranda into the air with her biotics, but Miranda countered pushing her back with a throw. As they fought, heavy weapons fire caused the last of the battlesuits to explode, causing panic among the Fire Warriors. The few survivors fled into the depths of the temple, avoiding the fierce duel of biotic powers.

"Do not retreat you spineless bastards!" Commander Kelanya waved an arm and churned the granite floor just beyond her, forcing jagged rocks to spout from the ground. Caught in a tight space devoid of cover and in crossfire between boltgun fire and Kelanya's wrath, only a half dozen made it over the rocks and into the temple.

"Say good night, bitch!" Miranda gained her composure in the few seconds Kelanya took her focus away from her, allowing a perfectly timed biotic push to slam her skull against a chunk of rock, knocking her unconscious. Shepard caught up with her still spraying gunfire into the darkness of the inner temple, but when the coast was clear he ripped his helmet off and saw to Miranda.

"You okay?" Shepard looked to the unconscious asari commander, making sure she stayed there.

"You come running over in such a rush because of a scratch?" Miranda put her left hand to Shepard's cheek, "You worry too much."

"Then what was the cause of that frenzied rampage? It would have been nice to know you were a psyker before hand, Ms. Lawson." Sergeant Reamus switched out the drum magazine on his boltgun after coming to stand beside them both.

"I'm not a 'psychic' or whatever you called it. I'm a biotic." She replied.

"He said you were a psyker. They are beings who can call upon the powers of the immaterial warp to fight." Shepard added.

"Would the fact that my powers use dark energy make any difference?"

"Dark energy? How…"

"How what?" Shepard got worried for a moment.

"How obsolete!" Reamus laughed at the thought of how strange the two humans before him really were, "Any competent techseer could make a shield generator or void shield impervious to your attacks. Why, I haven't heard of the use of dark energy for anything but starship thrusters since the old tales of the Horus Heresy."

"And it is that laxity in knowledge that will give her the upper hand in battle." Shepard once again added to the conversation.

"Indeed. Well, we should get her back to the battle fleet, I'm sure when she wakes up you will be able to pry any sort of information from her." Shepard picked up the limp commander and threw her over his shoulder. Reamus called for a Thunderhawk gunship, but when it landed it only picked up Shepard and Miranda. The temple still needed to be cleansed of Tau, but the more pressing matter would have to be on their hands.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Interrogation

"About time you woke up." Miranda sat at a small and rusty iron table, her arms clasped in front of her mouth, a calculating and patient look on her face save for a raised brow, and her ice blue eyes locked with the asari on the other side. They sat inside one of the many crew barracks on a Fate Breakers Battle Barge, repurposed by Miranda for her own strange tasks. Kelanya came to her senses and struggled briefly before realizing her hands were bound behind the chair she sat in. Sweat slowly dripped down her face as they stared each other down with ruthless expressions.

"I should be dead by now, human. Aren't you trained to shoot aliens on sight?" Kelanya asked. Miranda rose from the table and slowly circled the table. Each step of her high heeled shoes on the steel plating floor made a high pitched click, each breath was almost like a sigh. Miranda took one finger to the back of Kelanya's chair and pushed it back and forth for a moment, letting the chair wobble on its uneven legs. The lights above them flickered frequently, but only the asari seemed to mind.

"Who said I was one of them?" Miranda asked, continuing her walk but silencing her loud breathing. She took her seat back in her chair, crossed her arms and locked gazes with Kelanya once again.

"Bitch, you are going to have to do better than some theatrics and a cold stare to get me scared. I command the most ruthless Tau Cadre in the Damocles Gulf." The asari stated.

"Not anymore." Miranda smirked and pointed one finger at the table. "In this room, _you have no power_." She paused, studying every one of Kelanya's slightest moves. "Now I'm going to ask you politely, to answer a few simple questions. Now first I'm trying it the easy way, if you don't cooperate it simply won't end well. Mainly for me, since I'll have to clean your blood off the floor."

"Fuck you."

Miranda quickly reached for Kelanya's tentacle hair and violently pulled her head down until it connected with the table. The asari pulled away, obviously in great pain but never letting out a groan or a scream. Purple blood trickled down her nose as Miranda waited for her to say something else that would incite another attack. "Why has humanity separated from the Citadel races?" Miranda calmly asked.

"Heh, what rock have you been under for the past ten thousand years?"

"I am a time traveler, using the same device you've been looking for." Kelanya's eyes widened, "Yes, we've tapped into your communications network. The encryption levels looked like they were written by a child."

"Those transmissions were in Tau language. Current human translators can barely keep up with us."

"And how about UT's from 2185?"

"Damn bitch, didn't think you were that old. Still fretting over the Reapers?"

"Answer the question or I break more than your nose. Why did humanity secede from the Citadel?"

"We live for a thousand years, not ten, I wasn't around back then. But I do know that 'God-Emperor' caused all of this bullshit. Supposedly he rallied all of humanity in some 'Great Crusade' and stormed off the Citadel. Damn good television I say." Miranda slammed Kelanya's face into the table again. "You know I was cooperating."

"Next question. What happened to the Mass Relays and the Citadel?"

"After the Reapers or after the Crusade?"

"Both."

"The Eldar, if you don't know who they are it's best not to ask, allied with the Citadel and cloaked the Mass Relay network about ten thousand years ago. It took us seventeen god damn years until we figured out how to use them.

Miranda pulled her Carnifex hand cannon from her hip and pointed it at Kelanya's forehead. "Tell me how and give me the location of the nearest Mass Relay."

"I've already resigned myself to my fate. A bullet to the brain means nothing to me anymore. Just pull the trigger and then go fuck yourself."

"You have no idea who's on the other side of that door, do you?" Miranda pulled her gun away, "Until now, the Imperium thought you asari were female Tau. Now Tau have four fingers, hoofed feet, and they don't have tentacles for hair. Now if I open that door and snap my fingers some deranged, hunchbacked, cackling scientists haul you off to some underground lab where they dissect you alive. Answer this last question and I hand you over to the Citadel where you will be put on trial and most likely get a life sentence in a cozy prison for your cooperation. Of course if the Citadel doesn't exist anymore or if you lied to me once that dissection table is always available."

Kelanya was silent for a long time, but Miranda was a patient woman. She was willing to wait as long as it took for the asari to make her decision. "It is in the same system as the human world known as Ophelia. When you enter the system, discharge your ships engines with a dark energy pulse. That will disengage the cloak for approximately sixty seconds."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Vanguards of Solace

//Relay 109 access_logged. ALERT_Relay 109 accessed by HUMAN vessel.

//ALERT_ID CODE_N7 Classification.

//Protocol_541.184.5LL.12G..9V7._ACTIVE

//All Geth and allied synthetic platforms compliant… Consensus achieved.

//Disengaging all Citadel defenses_Summoning Council.

//Activating platform 000002316__Lord Legion_?

--

Two Hours Earlier

"Master Ventralis, this is the command deck." The old and horse voice immediately recognized as the Battle Barge's Astropath spoke over the comm. into Ventralis's earpiece. "We have exited the Warp and are now on the edge of the Ophelia system."

"Tell the navigator to set a course for the coordinates specified, and tell them to stay out of range of Ophelia's orbit, I don't want the Eccleshiarchy on our asses." Ventralis replied, grasping the railing above a group of ancient and mindless servitors tinkering at a single Land Speeder, while Shepard and Miranda conversed nearby. "When we get there, what's the next step?" He yelled.

Miranda activated her Omni-tool and held it in the air towards the Master above, a hologram of the galaxy soon appeared, followed by a vast interconnecting web representing each and every mapped relay in the known galaxy. "When we find the Mass Relay, I can simply pinpoint our location in relation to the Citadel, after which we shall travel to the station." Miranda pulled the map away and deactivated her Omni-tool when she finished.

"So you're just going to leave and talk to them? What if they aren't there, or what if they don't listen?"

"The Citadel Council will either help us find the device or be an enemy of humanity. But if nothing's changed since we left, they will be a great ally." Shepard stated in an assertive voice.

"We are at the coordinates, discharging Dark Matter engines in 3…2…1." One of the many Space Marine crew members working on the bridge stated over the shipwide loudspeaker, followed by a sudden but soft stop in the ship's momentum.

"Sir… Oh my, sir you won't believe this." Another Marine spoke into Ventralis's earpiece.

"Open the loading bay doors in Starboard Shuttle Bay 3. I'll see it from here." Ventralis replied. The large titanium shutter doors slid open, each of the three flashing purple as the shields took their place. The Master of the Fate Breakers had seen decades of fighting and brutality on both the ground and in the air, but never had he been filled with such wonder. The shock and awe flowed down his spine and all over his skin, enthralled in the object in space before him. Shepard and Miranda were only shocked because they had never seen one so up close, but it looked no different than before. The slowly decloaking Mass Relay appeared in the void, thousands of hexagon shaped panels disappeared as more and more of the Relay appeared. The Immortal Valor was almost a Kilometer long, but still the construct dwarfed it in comparison. The two rotating rings floating around a fluxuating orb of dark energy, glowing purple and blue in and every shade in between, and skimming the edge of the orb were two eternally rotating rings, causing subtle shockwaves like a heartbeat in the void. The two long silver prongs extended forever from the shuttle bay's point of view, unable to see the true entirety of its size.

"THAT is a Mass Relay!" Shepard proudly exclaimed, throwing his arms out with zealous joy at the sight of it. "Miranda, can you tell where we are?"

"Hmm… Comparing differential star charts, compensating for galactic star drift and expansion, and… got it. We are at the Mass Relay in the Han system of the Gemini Sigma cluster. We need to make three jumps until we reach the Citadel." Miranda replied.

"Is there any special trick on how to fly these things?" Ventralis asked.

"Just fly alongside it, the ship will get caught in the dark matter jetstream and plunged into a mass free corridor of space. No immaterium involved" Shepard stated.

"Estimated time between the first two Relays should be twenty minutes, then about two hours to the Citadel." Miranda added, then turned to face Shepard, but kept her ton loud enough for the Captain to hear. "Now the only problem left is how they will greet us. They will know this is a human ship."

"This ship has potent shields, we will be fine until you get reacquainted." Ventralis replied in a confident tone.

"That's the problem, we've technically been out of the game for 38,000 years." Shepard scratched the back of his head, "I mean I was dead for two and the galaxy did a 180. If that traitor asari is to be believed, then maybe they will trust us. But it doesn't mean a thing, if the Citadel doesn't trust the Imperium, they won't trust humans."

"We can only speculate until we get there." Ventralis tapped his earpiece, "Raise shields and take us in."

--

Shepard and Miranda spent the few hours they had studying the galaxy map of the 41st Millennium, it was the only thing they could get information out of, excluding the asari, who as part of their agreement sat in an isolated cell away from the xenophobic humans. They soon realized the Mass Relay to the Sol system and the Omega-4 Relay were not on the map, which could only mean they were destroyed. Shepard grew increasingly worried of the current status of the Citadel, and hoped his arrival would not be met with ordnance bombardments.

"We will be reaching the Citadel in approximately fifteen minutes. It would be better if you were on the bridge." Sergeant Reamus walked over to them and gestured for them to follow. After a series of elevator rides and traversing a maze of hallways filled with hundreds of Space Marines readying themselves for any possible engagements in the coming hours, they reached the bridge.

Master Ventralis and some of his retinue stood on a raised platform in the center of the room, which consisted of a single wall which arced from the left side of the door to the other side. Below sat half a dozen Space Marines working the main systems of the Battle Barge, never letting their diligent gaze stray from their consoles. Shepard walked over to the edge of the raised platform, temporarily ignoring the towering Marines and simply waited. Ventralis turned from his retinue and spoke, "We will be decelerating very soon.

"Can you keep your xenophobia in check if we become allies?" Shepard asked.

"We have been trained for our entire lives to shoot aliens on sight, but that doesn't mean I can't have a conversation with one over a radio." Ventralis smirked under his bushy moustache.

"Isn't that breaking the rules of the Codex?" Shepard raised a brow but was happy to hear the Master's earlier statement.

"It's bending the rules Commander, not breaking them. And all joking aside, this mission threatens not only humanity and the Citadel, but also every living thing that existed between the dawn of time and the apocalypse. If we have to side with an army of benevolent xeno, then I shall gladly do so if it means bringing an end to this device." The Space Marines crowding the room gave out a short war cry in response to Ventralis's speech.

When the Battle Barge dropped back into normal space, the bridge fell silent. The wide viewscreen stretching across the wall displayed the image clearly and free of any interference. The Citadel station sat in the center of the pale Serpent Nebula unblemished, seemingly untouched by time even though dozens of millennia had past since Shepard last laid eyes on it. Gargantuan silhouettes of starships dotted the outside of the station, all dwarfing any ship he had ever seen before. The Space Marines were speechless, transfixed on such wondrous beauty but aware of those that occupied it.

"Sir, someone's trying to communicate with us." The comm. officer tapped the side of the antennae on his helmet while tapping a few buttons on the console in front of him.

"Can you understand it?" Ventralis asked.

"We probably can. Our universal translators are tailored to the Citadel races." Miranda dove under the railing above the central platform and approached the comm. officer, extending her metal hand up to the Space Marine who handed an earpiece attached to the console by a bundle of wires.

"Human vessel, we understand that Commander Shepard is aboard your ship. We mean neither him nor your ship any harm, we simply wish to resolve the current situation. Allow him to take a shuttle to the Presidium Junction at Zakera Ward and we will take no offensive action against you."

"What does it say?" Shepard asked.

"And more importantly who said it? Do you think it could be the voice of one of the Citadel's enemies?" Ventralis added, "It could be possible those Geth or Collectors took over the station." Both Shepard and Miranda dismissed the claim, but couldn't blame the Master for his comment. He had very little information on both races, let alone how impossible such an outcome was.

"They insist on Shepard coming to the Junction at Zakera Ward. They didn't say you could come alone, but wanted you to come in a shuttle. As for the speaker… rasped voice, vocal flanging, it means he's either a drell or a turian." Miranda replied.

"I anticipated you would require such transportation, there is a shuttle back down in the starboard docking bay. Reamus escort them back down there." Ventralis ordered, the sergeant saluted and proceeded to the wide automatic door.

"It'll be best if we take the asari traitor with us. We can hand her over to the Citadel for their courts to handle." Miranda added as she leapt back up to the central platform.

"What about the possible intelligence we can gain from her?" One of Ventralis's advisors interjected.

"She's smart, but she's a field commander. Battle fleet locations and long-term war plans are not her business. She's useless to you."

"We will wait here until you return, but give the word and we will send reinforcements." Ventralis boldly reassured them, Shepard nodded before turning to leave.

--

The modified Land Speeder passed through the porous kinetic barrier locking in the air in docking bay, specifically the Presidium Junction at Zakera Ward. The thrusters cooled and slowed as magnetic fields grabbed hold of the metal chassis and locked in place. The improvised outer hull serving as a vacuum seal lifted up with a hissing sound, allowing Shepard and Miranda to exit the Speeder and jump onto the polished steel floor. The large room was littered with crates of varying size, color, and texture stacked as high as the ceiling allowed. Shepard scanned the area, looking for any signs of life, and then two geth soldiers clad in pale grey plastic chitin came up on either side. Shepard and Miranda drew their assault rifles and pointed them at the synthetics, whom immediately drew their own.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: The Vanguards of Solace, Continued

"Shit, it was a trap all along wasn't it?" Shepard screamed in a deep and angry voice up to the Land Speeder where the tied up Kelanya sat almost insubstantial to the geth guards. "What does this mean?" The Revenant machine gun quivered in his hands, a tear dripped down his cheek but remained hidden behind his helmet. He wanted to scream, he thought of the thousands of horrors caused by the geth heretics and their husk slaves. "We failed didn't we?" He remembered the dragons' teeth, the zombified machines that were once colonists on Eden Prime where he first saw them. He thought of his friends being impaled on them, Garrus, Liara and Samara, Wrex and Grunt, Thane and Tali, Jacob and Jack, Zaeed and Kasumi, they were all sprawled out in front of him, his mind could not escape the harrowing images. "After 38,000 fucking years we still failed?"

"Voice recognition confirmed. Subject is Commander Martin Shepard." One geth stated, its brow plates flapping in an odd sense of excitement.

"What the hell is going on here, this doesn't make sense." Miranda added. "If the Reapers are gone then why are there geth on the Citadel?"

"Whoa now, everybody just stay calm and put the guns away." A very muscular drell approached from the north, hoping to ease the situation from turning violent. Wearing loose grey pants and a tight black tee-shirt that barely contained his muscular chest, he pulled the cigar from his mouth and leaned towards the geth to Shepard's left. "Donmus, Petrun, put the damn guns away. You two aren't cadets anymore, so act like proper officers and don't point a rifle at every new arrival!" Unlike most drell, his voice was not as rasped as many others of his kind, making him sound more human than Shepard expected.

"But the Citadel Security personnel conduct manual states that when any subject arms himself with a weapon we are to do the same." The geth to Miranda's right replied.

"Protocol twenty-three-two-nine is in effect! You geth, the founders of such protocol, should know that with his arrival it goes into effect!" The drell angrily lectured the two geth, who seemed to pull away from him slightly as time past, like a parent scolding two children. Shepard was surprised that geth were able to show such emotions through simple bodily movements. "This here is Commander Shepard, hero of the Citadel and life as we know it! Do you think he would take kindly to any greeting at gunpoint?"

As the two geth soldiers moved their rifles to their backs, Shepard smirked. He had jumped to conclusions and gotten into an emotional breakdown over nothing. "The geth are a Council race now, aren't they?" Shepard put away his own gun and removed his helmet, holding it under his arm.

"The geth are the strongest race on the Citadel Council as of the current date." One geth replied.

"But these two are just knuckleheaded cadets, a fine example of the Geth Empire." The drell added sarcastically.

"This should be interesting." Miranda added, putting away her Avenger, "We have a traitor asari up in our shuttle. Without her we would have not found our way here, so we promised her leniency when handed over to the Citadel."

"Anyway, with that problem behind us you would please follow me, Commander?" The drell pointed his arm to the winding space behind him. "You two take the asari into custody, and make sure to put her in a Null-Field cell when you book her." The two geth bobbed their flashlight heads and climbed up to the shuttle and pulled the asari out.

"Will you answer any questions I ask or are you taking me to someone who will?" Shepard crossed his arms, "Just for the sake of saving time."

"I won't waste your time by pretending to know more than half of what you want to know, so I'll just take you as far as the Presidium. The Council can take it from there." The drell led Shepard and Miranda to a platform raised only a few inches from the ground, surrounded by black and yellow caution stripes with warning messages in a few alien languages. Shepard looked to Miranda with a crooked brow as the pad lit up beneath them, a second later the dim warehouse-esque scenery of the docking bay was replaced with the polished white walls and trimmed plants found only on the Presidium.

"Teleportation? When did?" Miranda was flabbergasted, still in shock from the sudden change of lighting and surroundings.

"It's been around for as long as I've been alive, and I'm almost a hundred." The drell officer shuffled them both of the platform before it lit up again, then his muscular form faded and disappeared.

Shepard knew where he was on the Presidium, just he hadn't been to this particular area often. Zakera Ward was to the left of the Citadel Tower, which was where the Embassies were. In his travels he only visited that area, and when looking from one of the many bridges across the winding lake he could see the balcony of the human embassy. Wondering who now occupied the room but had no idea how to get over there, Shepard caught a glimpse of what looked similar to Avina on the other end of the bridge.

"Notice anything different Shepard?" Miranda leaned against the railing beside Shepard and began rhythmically tapping the metal bar.

"I can see there are finally fish in the lake." Miranda looked over and saw silhouettes scurrying in the water a dozen feet below.

Miranda giggled before looking up, "They added a day and night cycle to the artificial light. And by the looks of it, its early morning here."

"That would explain why there are so few people walking around. We should go ask Avina the way to the Embassies from here, if the drell was telling the truth about the Council expecting us.

"Can we trust his word?"

"Probably, I doubt they would have set a trap just so the Council can get us at gunpoint." After walking over to the other side of the bridge, Shepard noticed even with the sparse amount of citizens on the Presidium given the hour, he could see no asari which didn't surprise him, but he could see many drell, krogan, and batarians. He then realized that humans probably weren't welcome here, so he avoided eye contact as much as possible.

"Greetings, Master-Commander Shepard." Avina, which was modeled after the asari race, was most likely changed in recent years to the form of a batarian man. They could see that hologram technology had improved greatly since 2185, which was to be expected. Now looking like something out of an abstract anime to Shepard, the batarian looked just as real as its organic counterpart, save for its limbs were replaced by interlocking hologram panels similar to tech armor, only these constantly fluxuated with different colors and subliminal advertisements. "It has been thirty-eight thousand--" The batarian's image warped violently, its voice reduced to broken patches of static, but moments later it returned to normal. "Temporal Protocol active, terminal ready to process queries."

"What is the name of this terminal?" Shepard crossed his arms and tilted his head, unbelieving that a batarian could be so polite to a human as soon _at first_.

"Please Commander, I am an AI, please treat me like one." The batarian politely retorted.

Shepard was shocked, "Are there AI's at each of the different terminals?"

The batarian AI laughed, "At first there were different AIs at each of the terminals on the Presidium and Zakera Ward, but they became competitive. They eventually hacked into C-Sec and legislative funds trying to bribe citizens into coming to their area more often. I am Dom' Hadeh, tour guide, non critical groundskeeper, and vigilant guard of the Citadel."

"Great, now that introductions are over with, can we get to the Embassies now?" Miranda impatiently interjected.

"What's the rush?" Shepard turned to face Miranda as he spoke, but he knew the answer halfway through the question. The longer they waited, the more likely the trigger-happy Space Marines would open fire on the Citadel.

"Head over to the public transporter system behind you and it will take you to the Embassies."

"Thanks, mind telling us how to use one?" Shepard asked.

"Oh yes… you don't have the implants." Hold on, I'll hardwire the transporter for a one-way trip. Just don't take too long, other people need to use that too." Shepard and Miranda walked over to the elevated pad, and in a split second warped from one area of the Presidium to the other. Now Shepard recognized where he was, and after a brisk walk across another bridge they stood at the Citadel Embassies.

"Shepard Commander?" Turning to face the right stairway leading up to the embassies, a towering geth construct gracefully descended towards them. It wore dark grey armor so well polished that it gleamed even in the early morning light, and underneath were ebony fibers woven together like muscle that twitched and pulled with every slight move. Behind it a crimson cape dramatically flowed, proudly displaying the Geth insignia on both sides: three hollow hexagons overtop a shield. The singular white lens that served as its eye was supplemented by two asymmetrically placed red lenses, both focused on both Shepard and Miranda.

When he was close enough, Miranda noticed the weathered chunk of N7 armor layered over its right collar and shoulder. "Legion?" She asked in shocked and surprised manner. Shepard reached out and shook Legion's hand, happy to see a familiar face but puzzled by the fact that it was a familiar face.

"Correction, I am now called Lord Legion, as head of the Citadel Council and representative of the Geth Empire."

"A lot's probably changed in the past 38,000 years. Care to fill us in?" Shepard asked.

"Not here, Commander. I concluded that it would be best to answer your questions in the presence of the entire Council." Legion waved his arm for them to follow him up the stairs and into the human embassy, but Shepard interrupted him with another question.

"Did you just use the word 'I'? I thought there were no individuals within the geth network?"

"As was stated previously, all will be answered before the Council." Legion led them into the Human Embassy, obviously bare of furnishings or computers but unchanged since he last saw it dozens of millennia ago. At the center of the room a smaller teleportation pad came to life as they drew near it, and upon stepping onto the platform it carried them away.

Shepard could not tell where he was now, since there were no discernable walls or floors. The entire 'room' was a shade of grey, with darkest shades at the horizon line in the distance and the ceiling colored the lightest. There was also no visible light source, yet Shepard could see Miranda and Legion just fine. The geth councilor walked forward, casting a shadow only directly below him, then he snapped his fingers causing a beam of light to spout out from the ground, ending only at the ceiling now visibly thirty to forty feet in the air, causing the light to become a tight pillar that encased his form.

"Councilor Legion, of the Geth Empire." Legion stated.

Scattering the room around the trio more councilors appeared out of thin air and separated themselves within pillars of light. The krogan was the first, whose towering body and intimidating demeanor proclaimed his high stature. Shepard could immediately tell that this krogan was different from any he had ever seen before, but he figured that this was most likely due to their adaptive evolution. The turian, the drell, the batarian, the elcor, and the volus arrived. Finally, holograms of the salarian, the quarian, and another unidentified alien race appeared. He could tell despite the grainy and flickering graphic that the quarians no longer wore biosuits, and though he was eager to see what was underneath their mask, the councilor wore a fine hooded cloak, and only a blue-grey pointed chin was visible.

"Clanmaster Serverus of the Krogan!"

"Shipmaster Holgrum, of the Turian Hegemony."

"Councilor Amun Darius, of the Drell." The many councilors introduced themselves, excluding the race Shepard didn't recognized, nevertheless in total it far outnumbered the council of Shepard's time.

"Then we call this council to order?" Legion asked, which was followed by the room agreeing.

"Honest rebuke. Humans are too overzealous for infiltration. If these two were spies would have tried to kill someone already." The elcor councilor retorted.

"But they pointed weapons at the two C-Sec cadets at Presidium Junction." The turian replied, "This proves that from the moment he stepped onto this station he has been causing trouble."

"Correction. The Commander and Miss Lawson come from a time when there were two factions of Geth, loyalists to our own cause and the worshipers of Nezara, a Reaper. Both were equally hostile towards them, thus their actions provoked such a response.

"I think most of us get it, Lord Legion." The salarian's hologram flickered as he gestured for the geth councilor to calm down, the graphics struggling to keep up with sudden movements. "Can we please proceed to the reason why they are here?"

"A human from this time, known only as the elusive Commissar Grissom, found a time travel device of unknown origin and used it at first to contact my time, or your past, of the coming war humanity faced in such a dark future. Now it seems that he's either dead, allowing his true device fell into sinister hands, or worse he's been indoctrinated by the Reapers or tainted by Chaos, or both." Shepard stated.

"Speaking of which, what happened exactly to the Reapers?" Miranda asked.

"Legion turned to face her, "For the sake of preserving the continuity of space-time, this council and any synthetic life form in a three light-year radius of the Citadel will not speak of the exact details into your conflict with the Reapers. Though no organic life form is old enough to have been there, it is a necessary precaution."

"I'm probably right in saying we killed them all, otherwise none of this would be here." Shepard added.

"Confused. How has Shepard arrived at the Citadel?" The elcor asked.

"That human Imperium must be helping him, if so then we have no right to trust him." The turian waved his arm, utterly dismissing the Commander's presence after his sudden revelation.

"I think they have the right to speak for themselves." Shepard activated his Omni-tool and tapped his helmet with it, the searchlights on either side came to life and a small screen with an oscilloscope appeared. "Master Ventralis of the Fate Breakers Space Marines, you are now in the audience of the Citadel Council.

"Greetings… uh, sirs and madams." The oscilloscope flickered and wavered as he spoke. This was most likely the first time he held a proper conversation with any alien species, let alone the leaders of a good dozen of them.

"Are you insane Shepard? You may be a hero but the Imperium is too far! They will see this station destroyed even if it means the death of millions!" The turian councilor was visibly angry with the sudden turn of events."

"Calm down Holgrum." The volus councilor spoke up, "Obviously this is a struggle for them (inhales) to even make it this far. I mean (inhales) a Space Marine willing to talk with the leaders of any alien species, (inhales) that's something you don't see everyday."

"If it means bringing an end to this threat, we are willing to cooperate with the Citadel." Ventralis replied.

"With the major players present, we need to get down to business. We need to find the final device and shut it down by any means." Shepard stated.

"You realize what this represents, Shepard?" Miranda added, "An alliance between the Citadel Council, now containing the races we saw as enemies, and the utterly uncompromising Imperium of Man. This could be groundbreaking."

"One thing at a time, Miranda." Legion replied.

"Our forces are scattered across the galaxy fighting Tau, the Orsk, and the Necrons. Any fleets in the area of this engagement will be all you receive." The quarian councilwoman added.

"Do we even know where this device is?" The batarian crossed his arms and raised a brow.

"We can find out." Ventralis stated, "The Commissar's long time confidant lives on a 'Paradise World' on the western fringe of the Tempestus. If anyone can find him, he can."

"If possible, would Legion be able to join us?" Shepard asked

"Are you insane human? Your Space Marine friends will gun him down on sight!" The krogan councilor boldly roared from across the room.

"We won't make any progress without compromise." Ventralis paused, "I am not totally against it."

Shepard raised a brow, "Did I just hear right? A Space Marine Company Master possibly agreeing to, nay considering to allowing a xeno-created synthetic life form aboard his ship?

"I do not make this decision lightly, we shall discuss this further when you return."

"Do you want to come, Legion?" Shepard asked.

"It has been many millennia since I served under your command, I would be… honored to do so once again."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Shadows and Salvation

By the time the canopy lifted from the front of the Land Speeder, Shepard, Miranda, and Legion were greeted by a circle of armed Space Marines. Shepard was getting tired of being greeted at the wrong end of a gun everywhere he went, now the guns were lowered, but he could see the hostility oozing from them.

"Halt, synthetic." One Marine whom Shepard did not recognize approached them as they got out of the vehicle. Steam hissed loudly as the clamps attached to both sides of the Speeder and the engines slowly turned off. "Raise the shield to prevent any hacking attempts." A band of blue light flew behind the Space Marine perimeter, separating the shuttle bay from the rest of the ship.

"I thought Ventralis vetted his arrival?" Miranda asked in a somewhat angry tone, displeased with the welcome they received.

"He is still a xeno, organic or otherwise. Precautions must be taken given the many concessions we have so generously and carefully given. If he had not given word just minutes ago, we would have shot him and then most likely the both of you."

"That would be unwise." Legion stated.

"Thanks for thinking so highly of us." Miranda replied, but the Space Marines seemed to ignore her statement.

"Bring forth the techpriests. Let them do what they must to deem him clean." Suddenly two men appeared from behind one of the Space Marines. They were hunched over and wore tattered crimson robes, whose hoods obscured their most likely ruined faces, cords and wires attached unknown apparatuses and technologies to non visible regions of their bodies, and they both walked with long staves decorated with Imperium insignia. They stopped just in front of Legion and, whilst chanting a whisper in an incomprehensible manner, put together a device.

Legion became alarmed, his brow plates jumping out and quickly moving, "Alert. User's platform in proximity of software scrubbing mechanism."

"Now let's not do anything we will regret." Shepard jumped between the techpriests and Legion, the two hunchbacked techseers did not acknowledge his presence, but the Space Marine met his gaze. "This synthetic is, or once was part of my crew. He has endured the passage of dozens of millennia leading his people to prosper and not once wronged this Imperium!"

"It's just a software scanner, Shepard, what harm could it do?" Miranda asked.

"Simulations conclude one out of every three geth programs on this platform will be corrupted or erased if flagged by the scrubber. This will result in an irreparable error, loss of data or sentience, or trigger a violent outburst." Legion replied.

"Is there an alternative? Something that would allow him free passage to the rest of the ship?" Shepard asked.

"Is there a problem down there?" A voice over the loudspeaker in the shuttle bay immediately silenced the room. The Space Marine touched his earpiece to respond.

"The synthetic that followed Commander Shepard and Miss Lawson aboard has yet to be cleansed of potential virus and Trojan programs." He replied.

"Eventually there must be compromise. Now it may be seen as heresy but eventually this endless cycle of hatred and paranoia must come to an end. I allowed it to come aboard, so you will not need to scrub its programming. Also it has invaluable information that could be erased during its cleansing, so you will refrain from doing so, is that clear?" The voice was of Company Master Ventralis, who seemed impatient with the Space Marine who was simply doing his duty.

"You will be escorted to the Epistolary's Sanctum, with armed guards. I… apologize for inconviencing you Commander, Miss Lawson. Just keep the robot in check or I will personally crush him to the size of a football and launch him out of the nearest airlock." The shield behind the other Space Marines disappeared, and they formed into squads and marched away, leaving five behind including the one closest to the group.

The guards were allowed as far as the front door when the trio reached the Epistolary's private chambers. In contrast with the rusted and dented bulkheads that made up the majority of the ship's interior, these doors were easily twenty feet in height, and a two-headed eagle was etched into the two cobalt sliding doors. When they opened the Space Marine guards retreated from sight, and the Chief Librarian led them inside. Epistolary Kuzon was a very interesting man from Shepard's point of view, since he wore red armor in place of blue, and he was also one of the few in the entire Chapter to use a jump pack, which of course he was not currently wearing.

"You have a library on a spaceship?" Miranda was befuddled, she looked around at the musty wooden bookcases stuffed with ancient manuscripts and hardcover codices written eons ago, suddenly correcting herself because technically she must be older than all of them. The Chief Librarian led them around a corner and down a longer hall, with each wall still lined with bookcases. Here a table stood at the center of the end of the hall, and the Company Master and a servitor stood waiting patiently.

"Company Master Riker Ventralis, Chief Librarian Kuzon, we are honored to work with you at this time." Legion bowed slightly and stood at the opposite end of the table from the two Space Marines and their servitor.

"The servitor will record all information gathered here, pay him no mind." Kuzon pointed to the legless shell of a man typing at a computer with one hand while the other was attached to the device itself by a wide tube protruding from where his left hand should be.

"Can we be promised this knowledge will not be used against the Citadel?" Legion asked.

"We will keep this 'Citadel' a secret from the rest of Humanity if and only if the well being of the Chapter cannot be compromised by keeping this secret. Hiding the existence and whereabouts of a secret benevolent alien empire tends to make heads roll." The Librarian replied in his fine accented voice.

"Then we will start from the beginning. However humans, I ask you do not act until we are finished. What has to be said will change your perspective, but overall change nothing." Legion activated what looked like an Omni-tool. His was extremely different from the one in both Shepard and Miranda's possession. This one was blue, and contained far more moving parts than any 2185 graphics chip could handle. Clicking a button with finger, Legion made a floating television screen appear in the center of the table, and the others began to watch whatever he was going to project on it. "This is the story as best as we can tell it."

"_Marking the thousand year anniversary of the First Contact War at Relay 314, a group of radical xenophobic humans stormed into public schools on Palaven and the Presidium at the Citadel. It was there almost at the same time as one another, where they brutally stabbed or gunned down at least seventy turian students between the ages of nine to sixteen."_ The screen first played a news broadcast with an asari anchor, obviously centuries past Shepard and Miranda's time, but the images struck home for them both as more newscasts played. Helicopter mounted and amateur cameras captured images that they never wanted to see. Shepard fought his mind to keep his gaze on the screen, he had to see it all, but it was simply heartbreaking.

"_As the turians attempt to rekindle their relationship with the human race with several new initiatives backed by their homeworld's government, a bombing in Santa Barbara, CA on Earth marks the sixth bombing in the past two months at youth recreation centers built by the turian-backed Sapphire Torch Association. Casualties are now totaled at forty-seven turians, two asari, and five humans. The Systems Alliance has promised to crack down on organized crime and terrorist organizations to prevent further attacks."_

"_A jubilant day for the galaxy as the geth have finally joined the Citadel Council, almost 1600 years after being declared an enemy of the state during the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius's campaign against the Citadel and the Human Alliance. This inception into the Council also comes 465 years after the inauguration of their creators the quarians, but beating the Batarians, Volus, Hanar, and Drell. Talks are in motion to release the quarian homeworld, which is currently under the geth's control. It is also a few months shy of the tenth anniversary of the Singularity Contingency, the infamous subroutine that has officially declared the geth a sentient race." _It was obvious that many of the clips were centuries, if not millennia apart from one another, but together they all painted the same grim picture.

"_The Terra Firma political party, a radical Human group, infiltrated and hijacked the asari dreadnought Destiny-Ascension earlier this week and attempted to kill all of its ten thousand crew. This was fortunately avoided thanks to the glorious sacrifice of the brave men and women of the 13__th__ Deck Security Staff. This group of asari and batarian security officers in charge of security at the heights of Destiny-Ascension's 13__th__ deck, they went above and beyond the call of duty by laying down their lives to save ten thousand others."_

"_Humanity's great divide got wider last Saturday when the Secretary of Defense of the Western American United States went on live television attempting to apologize for the attack on the Destiny-Ascension no more than a week ago. Much of the galaxy is well aware of the divided opinion among humans in regards to aliens, but last week the xenophobes explained their intent clearly with an assassination attempt on the Secretary on live television. Though he is being treated for a minor injury to his right shoulder, Mr. Frank Banderas was adamant for keeping his promise and ending this smear on humanity's name."_

"_It is a solemn day on Kahje today as the Hanar begin to recover from the nuclear missile strike at Justegir province, just miles away from their capital city. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by sixteen different pro-human groups, including the infamous Terra Firma Party and Styx, the so called successors of the enigmatic Cerberus. Never before has the galaxy dealt with nuclear fallout with an underwater civilization, but the Drell have quickly come to the aid of their former masters and have begun rescue efforts near the edges of the blast zone. It is also unclear if the Hanar will retaliate now that the xenophobic factions of humanity have now attacked them. With approximately twenty thousand dead and no way to get a true body count, the Hanar have more than enough of an incentive to seek some sort of revenge." _

"_Protests outside the Embassies on the Presidium calling for the ousting of humanity from the Citadel Council ended violently this past Friday as Citadel Security responded with riot control teams. These squads were armed with non-violent weapons like tear gas, tazers, and sonic weaponry, but when word of such protests spread to the Wards, some humans in the nearby Tayseri Ward grabbed a few small arms and a flamethrower and rapidly 'came to the defense' of 'their right to power'. Overall the humans caused six fatalities and dozens of injuries from the panic they caused before being gunned down by a brave krogan lieutenant who faced down the barrel of the flamethrower and survived with only minor burns thanks to the miracle of Krogan resilience."_

Legion paused the harrowing display of news broadcasts and reports to speak. Miranda, as hardened as she was, was on the verge of tears. Shepard's eyes were wide, his brow firm and face frozen with shock. "As the centuries turned into millennia, humanity seemed to divide in two. Some of your race became utter xenophobes and the other stayed loyal to the Citadel. But even with the escalating violence, the Council saw it as a phase." He stated as his brow plates rotated and fluttered.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that even with these attacks the Citadel you saw it as a phase?" Shepard was visibly angry, but failed to understand the entirety of what he was being told.

"Yes. If half of humanity still remained loyal and supportive to the whole galactic community then we had no reason to do away with humanity and have you end up like the batarians."

"But now humanity is so… absolute and uncompromising in their hatred for any alien race that most of the Space Marines on this ship would gun you down without any pretense other than your appearance! What the hell happened Legion? What led us from what I know to be humanity and this?" Shepard screamed, letting his anger and frustration flow out of him as he finished his sentence by pointing at the Company Master, the Librarian, and the hunchbacked servitor diligently scribbling notes.

"We understand your frustration Shepard Commander, but we can do nothing but explain the information of the events between these two time periods."

"How can you understand? What can a geth possibly understand of organic emotions?" Shepard was now inches from Legion's pale grey lens that periodically dilated and contracted.

"Geth have changed much since you saw us last. We are all Geth, but I am Legion. We are all our own individual, linked by a collective mind that stretches across the galaxy."

"Impressive indeed, synthetic. At any given time one of you can call upon the knowledge and expertise of your entire race." Kuzon raised a brow and smirked, intrigued.

"But you don't get it!" Tears came to Miranda's eyes as she pushed Shepard aside and pulled Legion down to eye level. "If we end up like this, this savage, barbaric, war-hungry variance of Puritanism that worships the shell of a man whose soul has long since ascended this reality…"

"Excuse me, Miss Lawson?" Ventralis asked with a touch of anger.

"She's right Ventralis. I mean look at us, we as the Fate Breakers are humanitarians, a true rarity in this galaxy. The Ecclesiarchy, the Inquisition, the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines as a whole, we have been raised from birth for the past ten thousand years to hate the mutant and the unclean, the lost and the damned, and above all the xeno. Any slight deviation, any hesitation, any mercy has for ten millennia been deemed as heresy, a sentence that requires nothing short of immediate execution and undeserving of due process." Kuzon pulled the Company Master back slightly and spoke with a calm voice and only the truth left his mouth. He seemed to take the anger and confusion in the room and made the information understandable. "I mean from their perspective, on the eve of a suicide mission to rid our past of these 'Reapers' they see what they will become if they succeed. Is survival really preferable to extinction in this case?"

"Commissar Grissom spoke to the bridge of the SSV Prometheus for thirty-four seconds." Shepard calmed down but still stared at Legion's eye. "In that small amount of time he did not address any single man or woman on that bridge, but all of humanity. He wanted only to see the galaxy he lived in become a better place. He may not have ordered me directly, but I became from that day forward obligated to keep his promise. Without it I would not have been the same man I am today. I would not have been driven enough to reach N7 status, to take the XO position on the Normandy SR1, to survive Eden Prime and become a Spectre. And all of that time I had four hundred and twenty hours of reminders of what I was fighting for, the Ultramarines video logs which I'm sure by now you've seen! Whatever you have to say Legion… it will change nothing. I am going to stop Grissom and whoever has led him down the dark path he follows now. I will see this through to the end, and then and only then will I be able to face the Reapers on a level playing field."

The room fell silent, most seemed to be moved by his statement. Ventralis cleared his throat and addressed Legion, "Now that we get the gist of what happened to humanity, could you tell us what happened to the other races, preferably in less detail?"

"Understood. Processing." Legion turned to face the screen his Omni-tool was projecting, fiddling with the controls the screen flickered and a second presentation began, only this time Legion was the narrator.

"The current council's major races are the geth, drell, turians, batarians, and the krogan. The other races that are not as powerful, but still sit on the council are the volus, elcor, salarians, and the Eldar stand as our non-council allies."

"Did you just say Eldar?" Kuzon asked. Shepard's mind flashed back to the council chambers, and the shadowed figure near the center of the room. It was tall, thin, and had an ethereal presence to it. There was no question that man or woman was one of the Eldar. Thinking back to the vids he actually knew next to nothing about them. He only saw shadows and blurs of tanks soaring over buildings as if they were planes, and cryptic riddle-like transmissions to the Imperium every so often if they happened to fight in conflicts with common enemies.

"What is the extent of your relationship with them, geth?" Ventralis asked, uncomfortable with Legion even uttering their name.

"When humanity became fully detached from the Citadel, it was the Eldar who created the cloaking devices for the Mass Relays. Also, approximately 1400 years ago, the salarian homeworld was overrun by the Ork menace. This crippled both their numbers and their seat on the council. The Eldar granted the salarians asylum on their craftworlds." Legion replied.

"Could you offer any insight into the Eldar that the Imperium does not have? Fleet deployments, colony locations, long-term goals?" Kuzon asked.

"…No." The two Space Marines knew they most likely could not extract the information by force, so they dropped the subject.

"Then aside from all of this information, what is the next step?" Miranda asked.

"There are rumors that Commissar Grissom has a single contact, an old friend that funnels him money and supplies. He's the Planetary Governor of a Paradise World on the borders Uhulis Sector." Kuzon replied.

"A Paradise World? What's the catch?" Shepard asked with an extreme amount of skepticism.

"All Paradise Worlds are owned by corrupt and feeble fiends that hide behind heavily bribed police forces and private security armies. Every single one is corrupt unless the Governor is the only man who lives there, then he's just protective." Ventralis added, showing his disdain for such folk.

"We need to get there and find out what he knows!" Miranda exclaimed.

"We would have years ago if our arrival didn't spark further incidents. This man has close ties to the Inquisition, and would surely bring them down upon us if we were to... invade. We simply lack the resources for a covert offensive. But if you three get in and take him down, there will be no such incident."

"If you could get us there, I'm more than happy to take down whoever he is." Shepard smirked and put his helmet on as the trio was signaled to leave.

As Legion moved himself to the pilot seat of a Raven storm gunship, Shepard came up behind him, but his wide armored pauldrons could not fit between the seats. "There's something you left out of our discussion."

"Specify. Frequent interruptions prevented the viewing of exactly 0.02116 petaquads of data."

"You failed to mention the Emperor."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: The Falsebound Utopia

Shepard stared at his reflection in the polished bulkhead, carefully studying the current state of his armor. Weeks of fighting in sewage-soaked urban streets made his armor dirty very often, and Shepard took a liking since he was a cadet to maintaining his armor by hand. Now, after a recent scrubbing, the power armor looked as dramatic and imposing as ever. Nearly identical to the armor of a Space Marine, the varnished ebony plates shimmered in the morning sunlight peeking through the porthole behind him. Grey stripes stretched down his arms and legs in intimidating patterns, and the trademark red over white stripe that went down his right arm denoted his N7 status. His five choice weapons sat on his back and waist, all a variety of colors but none clashed enough to ruin the armor's urban camouflage.

Setting his helmet down, he leaned closer to the bulkhead to examine his face, inching to the right to allow more light in from behind him. Letting out a quiet yawn, he ran a hand through his dirty hair. He tried really hard to count the amount of days since his arrival to the 41st Millennium, which was the same amount of days since he had a proper shower. Shepard pulled back from the bulkhead and took a seat in the one of many within the Ravenstorm Gunship. Obviously a ship made for Space Marine use, Shepard was dwarfed by the barely cushioned seat, resting his head on the outlet designed for the backs of power armor without backpacks attached. When he reached a position that was acceptable for him, Shepard pushed and held a button on the left side of his belt and pulled a long stainless steel canteen from it. Slipping in his hands it was covered in condensation, and even with his armored gauntlet he could feel the cold from within. It was one of four things that Shepard considered to be a soldier's best friend: air strikes, EVAC helicopters, a poncho, and most importantly ice water.

"Got enough for both of us?" Miranda asked as she walked in from the cockpit and then hopping up to take a seat to his left. She looked in much better condition than Shepard, which befuddled him. Her long and clean black hair rested on her shoulders perfectly, her skin lush and unblemished despite the long weeks of war. The only thing she had a problem with was the temperature. The interior of this particular gunship was poorly insulated, and the boiling heat of entering the atmosphere made the journey a hot and humid one. After Shepard took one healthy swig he handed it to Miranda, who grabbed it with her left hand. She tilted her head back and gulped a small portion of it down, and then let out a refreshed sigh. Immediately afterward she took a seat next to Shepard, resting the side of her head on his curved pauldron. "Have you been saving that since we got here?" She asked, reattaching the steel canteen's cap and placing it in Shepard's lap.

"Space Marines can go days without eating, but they still have a fine galley. I just asked the cook for some." He replied.

"There was a guy in power armor wearing a starch white apron?" Miranda began to laugh, "No, just… No, I simply don't believe you."

"I never said he was a Space Marine… Or did I?" Shepard looked down to her with a raised brow and a sinister smile, causing Miranda to laugh harder just from his silly expression.

"Shepard Commander, Officer Lawson, please come to the cockpit." Legion asked in his mysterious mechanical monotone and well organized sentences. Both Shepard and Miranda jumped down from their seats and walked to the pilot area. Miranda easily swung around the co-pilot seat and came to rest with both of her arms leaning on the thick armrest. Shepard forced himself in between the two seats by sliding in sideways, but only managed to peak his head and collar out past the small gap in the seats. Legion's hands frequently danced on a cyan holographic interface, inches above the piloting controls. With each slight movement Legion made the other two noticed one or more controls seemed to move, beep, or click in response. When they both arrived, Legion tapped a button with his blade-tipped index finger and the shutters covering the glass canopy retreated out of sight, and light busted in. Shepard and Miranda cringed and held a hand to their eyes.

"Thanks for the warning." Shepard stated, quickly adjusting to the daylight as the gunship past through a layer of clouds. Legion did not reply. "Do we know where we're going?"

"Intelligence confirms large population on a single continent. This is also the last known location of Grissom's contact."

"But what Shepard is trying to… say…" Halfway through her sentence, the clouds disappeared and the tip of the continent was in full view, its grand vista bringing her statement to an abrupt halt. The rising sun cast a wide line of light on the water, making the towering palaces gleam like gems floating in the ocean. And whilst the scene alone was captivating, the land itself was a sight to behold. Towers and fortresses spread into the ocean like vines growing outward from a great tree, creating miniature cities with nothing but the abyss below them, skyscrapers formed into odd geometric shapes connected to one another by abstract tunnels hundreds of feet above the ground and with no pillars or columns to hold them in place, and bright and constantly moving signs flickered and danced in the distance. And among this sprawling hive of Shepard was immediately overwhelmed by the extreme sense of perfection and exorbitance the city profoundly proclaimed. "And I thought Abu Dhabi was big." Miranda stated, utterly at a loss to say anything else.

"You've been to Abu Dhabi? And I thought I was well traveled." Shepard replied as the gunship flew in closer, accelerating slightly.

"Collecting intelligence requires traveling to the far corners of the galaxy, but every once in a while I'm sent someplace nice." She added as the view of the ocean became less and less visible.

Shepard sighed with a smirk on his face, "Legion, do you detect any communications?"

"Standard Imperium vox communications are minimal, but present. Most probable explanation concludes that we must be out of range or there is a small Planetary Defense Force on this world." Legion replied.

"I guess since this is a paradise world, it must be the former." Miranda added.

"Then it would be best to take a closer look. Legion, set us down in a well concealed landing zone." Shepard moved to a console behind Legion's seat and flicked switches and pressed buttons, not taking the time to notice how well he knew the controls. Legion's Omni-tool transformed, the many light blue panels shifting in position for a moment, allowing a secondary HUD to be projected on the glass canopy. Eight waypoints directed attention to eight seemingly random points in the visible area of the city. Over the course of a few seconds the waypoints disappeared, excluding one.

"Landing zone acquired." Legion stated as he made the Ravenstorm accelerate, focusing on a space between two skyscrapers. When they reached a close enough distance their destination was visible, an ornate docking bay built below an enclosed bridge connecting the two buildings. The engines made a multitude of sounds as they dove further down to match the docking bay's height, which looked to be just above both buildings' sixth floor.

"Where are the city's defenses?" Miranda wondered, stroking her chin with two fingers.

"They must be hidden within the buildings, to give it the illusion of helplessness. Keeps allies out and takes unsuspecting baddies by surprise." Shepard replied, recalling past occasions not only from watching the videos, but his own experiences with the Fate Breakers and their many endeavors.

"Registering Bastion-mounted Autocannon and Lascannon turrets 13.187 miles from our landing zone, and no signs of any in this area being destroyed or moved." Legion stated, allowing each twitch of his finger changing their flight path.

"That's not good." Shepard nodded in disbelief while the gunship neared its destination.

"How so?" Miranda tilted her head and raised a brow. The gunship's engines quieted after a slight thud, coinciding with the Ravenstorm landing on the flight deck. Legion lifted his hands from the holographic controls and looped his sloped head around the seat to view Shepard.

"It means that whatever is out here is not worth saving." Shepard walked back into the troop area to retrieve his helmet, and attached it to his head as the side door hissed and slid open. He nodded to the other two and stepped outside with them at his flank.

The grand vista of glass and metal was done little justice by the eerie silence that was ever present. The wind howled for minutes on end, and not even far off sounds of any sort could be heard. Shepard sat on an empty crate across from Miranda, staring at Legion as he worked. The geth was lost in data and reports, shown in a wall of cyan screens that surrounded him on all sides. Shepard was afraid to take his helmet off in fear of the strong winds would force it from his hand and out into the street six or seven stories below, but he spoke to Miranda without any problems with it. "How long has he been at that?" He yelled over the wind which for the moment was at its peak, causing Miranda's hair to cover her face as the wind current concentrated in the boxed in docking bay.

"Two or three minutes at the most! I'm sure it won't be much longer!" She too had to yell over the howling gusts to speak to her partner.

"We have found a path." Legion stated, pointing a finger to the east, specifically to the door at the far left corner of the loading bay. Shepard swiftly grabbed hold of his helmet and made his way toward the door with the others in tow, but he was mostly letting Legion lead for the time being. Now standing in front of a large dark green metal doorway, both doors divided on in a jagged teeth pattern. He could find no switch, panel, or lever that hinted of a way to open the door. Legion simply waved his Omni-tool in front of it and the doors flew open. Shepard nodded in disbelief and walked in, leaning against the elevator's right wall. The comfortably spacious elevator was well lit and quite clean, unlike the rusted and worn docking bay. The ceiling was made up of tiny white tiles surrounding two rectangular light fixtures. Miranda allowed Legion to walk in first as she pulled her Vanquisher SMG from her hip, letting it unfold and fill her hand. Legion took the rear, whilst she stood opposite Shepard attaching the long silencer to the barrel.

"Where to?" Miranda asked.

"What is the closest exit, Legion?" Shepard turned to him instead of answering, since he was the one with the map.

"Excluding windows, the nearest exit is three floors below. Designation: Skyway, connects to building diagonally northeast from this one. If we choose to take this path it will remove approximately 37 minutes from our journey towards our destination."

"Then could you be so kind as to get this thing working?" Looking around, Shepard was once again frustrated at the lack of any panels or controls. This did not stop his ally from magically calling upon the inner workings of the elevator from the Omni-tool on his arm and causing the elevator to come to life. Suddenly, an alarm beeped within Shepard's helmet. It was the proximity detector. Shepard swiftly moved to the wall directly right of the elevator, forced his helmet onto his head, and drew his Carnifex pistol. The others did the same, pulling away from the elevator door and arming themselves.

"How many?" Miranda asked.

"Four, and they look like they're waiting for us." Shepard peered at the small screen in the far corner of his vision, the radar disk blinking with four red dots just beyond the elevator on the third floor. Mere moments passed before they reached their destination, and Shepard turned a knob on the top of the hefty pistol, activating the lime colored outline signifying a personal favorite mod of his: ferric tungsten rounds. Shepard held up an open hand to the other two and silently counted down from five.

"Oy! I told one of you sods to open the damn door didn't I?" A muffled but audible voice yelled from the other end of the thick metal doors. Shepard nodded to Legion, who then waved the doors open with his Omni-tool. The trio rushed out and brought their weapons to bear against the unknown assailants. Each of them looked as despicable and dastardly as scum and villainy could get. Wearing everything from tattered, mud stained trench coats to scavenged gear from fallen Imperial Guardsmen, whose demise was likely at their hands. Rotting teeth, scarred skin, putrid and unfortunately myriad smells, they all added to the horrible appearance shared by all four individuals. There were two men on the right, both armed with hellguns, one man in the center, the largest of the group, armed with a huge chainsword over his shoulder, and one man to the left grasping a flamer. "Well now…" The man in the center was intrigued by Shepard and his squadmates. His deep voice and Australian accent echoed in the dusty hallway. "A Space Marine, his robotic assistant, and a sweet little flower." The man's gaze studied both Shepard and Legion but when he got to Miranda he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

Miranda was disgusted and realized they she was pressed for time, "Call me that again and your brain will be on the carpet behind you!"

"Getting to this world's Planetary Governor is our priority. Impeding that task could end badly for you." Legion added.

"A pretty thing like you has no need to be in a rush. And besides, nobody gets into the city without paying the proper… toll."

"Cut the act. You just want all of our money, or you'll try to kill us for it, right?" The intimidating voice filter on Shepard's helmet sounded identical to that of a genuine Space Marine, he could see the man's goons flinch as they finally grasped the concept of how much trouble they could get in for actually threatening a Space Marine, let alone trying to strong-arm one into parting with coin for a toll.

"I find that rather insulting, Astartes. The toll ensures the protectors of the streets, mainly hard working men like ourselves," the man pointed to his group, "are properly funded to undertake the difficult tasks we do. And besides, aren't you a little too short to be a Space Marine?"

"Would the fact that I'm not one of the Emperor's Finest change the outcome of this conversation perhaps?" Shepard was hoping for a more peaceful solution to the debacle than he already expected.

"I don't suppose so, but today's price is forty-one sovereigns, and the girl."

"I am no feeble wench that can be traded like currency."

"Feisty one ain't she boss? Can I 'ave a go when you're done with her?" The man with the rusted flamethrower asked. Miranda had been trying her hardest to show restraint against the group of men before her, but now she could take no more. Without so much as a word, she violently thrust her right arm toward the flamethrower carrying brigand, causing the metal plates covering the wires and gears of the prosthetic to swiftly fluctuate with violet biotic energy as an invisible shockwave sent him flying against the wall. In protest, the other two lackeys turned their hellguns on her and fired on full auto, but the weak laser bolts washed over her shields without causing damage. Shepard simply turned the Carnifex pistol in their direction and fired, but his mind took note of Legion's weapon as he joined the fray. He seemed to have a very advanced version of the Geth Pulse Rifle, but internally it seemed to only have miniscule or unnoticeable changes separating it from the version in Shepard's time. A rapid stream of blue laser pulses sprayed over the other two raiders, cutting through their scavenged clothing and hardened skin as expected. Then, just as Miranda turned her attention to the ringleader of the group he was bringing the sword down on her. The mechanisms within made roughly toned whirring sounds as the razor sharp teeth of the chainsword were spinning at full speed. Giving out a barbaric howl, his veins cringed as he put all of his strength this one strike.

Miranda almost easily stepped to the side, allowing the volatile mechanism to connect with the floor. The cement bellow the dusty carpeting jammed the blade, not only lodging it within but also sending shock and small bursts of energy throughout the device, effectively shorting it out. Attempting to pull the blade from the floor Miranda swiftly kneed him in the gut and elbowed him in the back, causing the leader to fall to the ground in frustration and pain. Miranda held her submachine gun to the side of his head, the silencer barrel almost long enough to reach whilst she was standing. Pulling the trigger multiple times, she filled his head with holes that quickly leaked crimson blood that spread out in one huge pool. She fired again and again until Shepard had to physically rip her away from the man.

"Mir-Miranda, he's dead." Shepard stated while keeping her gun pointed way from the man's hand.

"So?" She asked in reply

"But the man is dead. I know he tried t buy you off me like some whore but that's no reason to turn his skull into a wiffleball."

"He called me a flower." Shepard raised a brow and shuddered, making a note to choose his words carefully around her. Suddenly, before they could even leave the room, the man armed with the flamer cackled maniacally and stood up, belching flames from his gun on the party. Miranda turned on her heel to face the man and released a biotic attack that caused the flamer to implode, resulting in an explosion that engulfed the man and the last of the flames overtook her small frame. Worry for her well being in the flames were put at ease when moments later they dissipated and her biotic barrier remained intact. She noticed her shirt was on fire in a small spot, and rushed to pat it out, but by the time she did so nearly a fifth of the shirt was consumed by the flame. "I can't believe I'm saying this but, I miss my old uniform. At least that was flame retardant."

"Solution available." Legion stated whilst immediately gathering the clothing from the bandits.

"Oh don't worry Legion, I'll be fine. Wait, did you just say you have a solution?" Miranda asked, but the Geth continued to gather and neatly fold the tattered clothing. "And what exactly are you to do? Do you have a spare set of clothes that fit my Cerberus uniform's custom details and exact size?" She sarcastically prodded at the synthetic, who simply did not reply and continued to fold the clothes until it was half a foot tall.

"In the year 26,459 in Galactic Standard Years, Omni-Gel technologies hit their peak. Named Metaphasic-Gel, one can take any type of material and revert it into a substance that when combined with a microscopic dose of Metaphasic-Gel, can be used to create the same type of material it once was, although in any shape or form." Activating his Omni-tool, Legion sat beside the clothes and began to fiddle with them in a strange manner. "Officer Lawson requested her previous uniform. Approximate time to completion 267.6 seconds."

"We don't have time for this. And why bother, if she says she's fine then we need to get going." Shepard added, but Legion ignored him and continued with the clothes. Shepard could not tell if this was a geth being stubborn or if he was malfunctioning, but the task seemed harmless enough. Taking his helmet off, he was amazed with what Legion was actually doing. The bloodied and worn coats and pants were being transformed before his eyes. Beneath Legion's Omni-tool, stitching fused and changed in both color and texture. Miranda walked to the other side of the large room towards the skyway, a carpeted bridge walled in by arcing glass, stretching from their location to a building to the northeast.

"Objective complete." Legion stood up and handed Miranda her unique Cerberus Uniform, folded into a perfect square. Raising a brow in suspicion, but smiling at the generous gift nonetheless, she walked behind Shepard and undressed herself.

"What was that for?" Shepard asked Legion after stepping over the body of the fallen brigand leader and moved to stand at his flank. "We both said it wasn't necessary, and you never once disobeyed an order I gave."

"Shepard Commander, we reached a consensus that concluded this event fulfilled a continuity error in space-time. Protocol restrains us from disclosing further details."

"A continuity error? Even if that's true, you have to give me more than that."

"Protocol cannot allow us to divulge information that could lead to a change of the past. But we can say this event triggered another that will come to pass before the protocol's invention."

"Okay, you're confusing me with your grammar issues here."

"He isn't confusing me, Shepard." Miranda walked up to Shepard's side, letting her cream colored uniform sparkle in the sunlight almost as brightly as her metal arm. For the first time in a long while she looked truly stunning to him, she even felt refreshed herself. But Legion did not duplicate the attire exactly, for the shirt only had a left sleeve, instead it neatly ended at the right shoulder to allow room for the slightly bulky prosthetic. Legion also added the same detail that Miranda had done to her uniform earlier, by putting two parallel cuts in the Cerberus insignia. "You can think about it as we go. We do have a job to do, remember?" Shepard nodded his head and lead on, looking around at the vast, glorious, and empty city surrounding them.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Lost in Paradise

Shepard scanned the area briefly as he walked, his assault rifle leading the way as he went, and Miranda and Legion walked at his flank. Deciding to take a 'shortcut' through a sprawling building that looked to be a casino and hotel, despite its lack of occupants was quite lively. Machines off all shapes and sizes made sounds of many sorts and were covered with flashing lights in every color. Cards, chips, and dice lay sorted on high tables covered in green felt and flashy designs, and surrounding those tables were hand crafted wooden seats, most likely cut from trees that were worth a small fortune. Shepard felt utterly chilled to the bone as he walked through the casino's main floor and all he could hear were the footsteps from the three of them, and Frank Sinatra playing one of his better songs overhead. He wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him now.

"Why the hell is there a fully working casino filled to the brim with absolutely zero people?" He asked, his distress slightly noticeable in his voice.

"What's the matter, Shepard?" Miranda, in her boundless wisdom, picked up on his discomfort as soon as they entered the building.

"A city on a planet owned and maintained by a traitor and a madman, a city that has very little traces of battle, destruction, or even occupation at all… I mean the first things I see and hear in this casino are a whole lot of tidy, empty chairs, and Ole' Blue Eyes singing away in the background. This is a time wholly unlike our own, but this seems unnatural."

"I agree, it does look odd. Maybe everyone left in a hurry, and didn't panic enough to cause enough damage." Miranda concurred.

"Alternative prediction: Perhaps they did not leave, but instead failed to arrive." Legion added. "Structure shows no signs of damage related with panicking civilians or a sudden evacuation. Further information cannot be determined. Final report inconclusive."

"So somebody put an entire city together, down to the tiniest detail…" Shepard stopped and examined a chair, wiping the thin coat of dust off of the top of it, "And then forgot to let people enjoy it. It's a shame, and it's scaring the shit out of me."

"We don't have time to dwell on it, we've wasted enough of it dealing with our welcoming party and taking the time to get my old uniform back. Oh and Legion, I do thank you again for doing such a thing for me." Miranda patted Legion's shoulder twice attempting to physically show her gratitude.

"Geth do not need acknowledgement of our deeds, no matter how necessary or how sentimental they may be." Legion replied, his brow plates twitching and flapping as he spoke.

"Then for the sake of simple clarification, what kind of deed was that back there?" Shepard asked.

"We were containing a continuity error in space-time, which also happened to coincide with Officer Lawson's wishes."

Miranda sighed and squeezed two fingers between her brow, "Since we're stuck here, and you being the lucky one who can leave at any time, we should get to know each other on a simpler basis. For example, you could address me simply as Miranda, or Lawson, and you can address him as Shepard or Commander."

"If one wished to truly do away with formalities then would we not call Shepard by his first name-" Legion was interrupted by Shepard nodding for both of them to continue on. The casino seemed to go on for miles, but the Commander saw it as less time out in the uncomfortable heat and humidity on the streets of the planet. And besides, every step forward was another step toward their goal. If only those 'thirteen miles' Legion calculated would have been a peaceful journey…

Minutes later, they came upon two normal looking glass doors, printed upon both was a two-headed eagle, the casino's odd logo, and its title written in Latin below both. Walking outside they found a spiraling concrete staircase that led down to the ground floor, which was no short distance. Miranda peaked over the edge of the rough stone balcony and saw a crystal clear stream running through the center of the road at the bottom of the staircase, or at least she thought it was the road.

"Looks like they have a babbling brook running through this part of the city." Shepard was looking over the edge as well, albeit on the opposite side of the balcony. He let out a crazed moan in frustration combined with laughter, muffled by his clenched jaw and twisted smile. Miranda hadn't the slightest idea as to what he was attempting to express. "What's next, gondolas?" He asked, scanning the stream for a way to cross.

"There are two oak canoes at a worf below us, Commander. Composition is mainly oak wood and a coating of water-resistant spraypaint." Legion stood ahead of them, directly on the extended platform serving as the top of the staircase, he was staring at the space between his feet, using some sort of technology allowing him to see through solid objects.

"I would make a snide remark about humanity and its problems with money, but we really have no time. Come on, we need to get to that tower." Shepard moved his gaze to an ominous and imposing black tower, surrounded by the knife edged spires atop hundreds of other buildings. Although the edge of the city's defenses were only a few miles away, the city still showed no signs of occupation, but it was so hard to discern a conclusion. Flashing signs, animated billboards, and skyscrapers dotted with light, it could have been true signs of life, but only time would tell.

As all three of them rowed the long canoe up the shallow stream they noticed a ladder leading straight up the flat brick wall to their right, just to the left of what looked like the last remains of a bridge long since demolished. Miranda, being the closest to it, turned to Shepard. Nodding with skeptical approval, Miranda climbed from the boat and up the ladder for but a moment until she reached the gravely path above. She first peered around, waiting for the quick gunshot or plasma bolt to come at her, but there was no welcoming party at all. For the first time in a long while the cliché was broken. Letting out a sigh of relief, she turned down to face the other two and gave them a nod. Shepard tied a rope that had one end wrapped around the tip of the bow and tied it to the ladder. Miranda leapt to the top and then reached out to help Legion up, which presented little issue. But when Shepard put the full weight of the power armor on the rusted ladder it utterly gave way and took him with it. Miranda swiftly reached out her metal arm to Shepard, keeping him from plunging into the odd stream below.

"Let go, I'll fall into the boat!" He yelled to her, and Miranda would have refused if she did not hear creaking and straining in the gears and actuators inside her arm. Letting go, Shepard plunged into the boat and caused it to shatter on impact. Unfazed, he reached out for the dry land which was only a few feet away, but even with his hand firmly gripping dry land, his armor still wanted to drag him into the depths below. His helmet, which was not hard sealed at the moment, flooded with liquid, closing Shepard's eyes and causing his lungs to gasp for air. As he pulled himself to safety Shepard ripped his helmet off and coughed up plenty of liquid. He finally opened his eyes, but then squinted to readjust to the sunlight. "It's a good thing we were cautious." He coughed some more as he emerged from the stream completely, "Because that is definitely not water."

"How are you going to get across? I don't think another ladder will work." Miranda stated.

"I have an idea, just step back." Shepard pulled out his Viper Sniper Rifle and aimed at a random part of the wall, and with four successful shots into one place he had a nice hole large enough for a hand to grab hold of. Repeating the process a few more times, Shepard then had enough to scale the wall on craters alone. After locking the sniper rifle into place on his back, Shepard took and aerodynamic stance and stepped back slowly. Taking a few long breaths to ready himself, he scanned the wall briefly. Moments later, Shepard darted down the gravel strewn ground and leaped over the stream as soon as one boot touched the edge of solid ground. He reached out for the uneven crevice of a crater with one hand and before loosing his grip lodged a foot and his other hand into two others. The excess momentum threw his head into the concrete wall, but not only was his helmet more than sufficient to absorb the impact, but the armor didn't retain a scratch. Looking up, he could see the edge within arm's reach. But as soon as he reached up to it Miranda and Legion were both there to help him up. They had reached what looked like some sort of town square. Roughly four or five buildings surrounding a clearing on all sides but the stream, and in its center a fountain gushing crystal clear water and every surface except the roads and sidewalks were covered in chalky grey gravel.

"That's what you get for wearing a suit that weighs a few hundred pounds." Miranda stated, wiping some dirt out of the corner of his left pauldron. "Now where to?" Shepard was about to answer, only to be interrupted by a group of men and women in long coats run towards then from around the corner of a building. These citizens were much cleaner and well composed than the four raiders from earlier. All of them wore black or grey clothes under long brown trench coats, and those without coats were armored with bullet resistant vests similar to those worn by soldiers and police in Earth's 21st century. Taking positions along the sidewalk, many were readying weapons before the man who looked to be their leader stopped them.

"Put the guns down! They obviously aren't raiders. Look at the one in the center, does the armor ring any bells?" The man walked back and forth forcing the rifles in the citizens' hands to be lowered or holstered. The trio approached them as soon as no guns were pointing at them.

"That's a better welcome than the one we got before." Shepard removed his helmet before stating his gratitude, as to not let the voice filter scare the armed civilians, and looked to the man in charge. He was an average looking man, with an obvious Irish accent, a light brown moustache and pointed beard, and neck length messy brown hair.

"Finally after sixteen months they send some help." The leader shook Shepard's hand with joy in his eyes for the first time in a long while, "Norman Irsenthorn, mister…?"

"Oh, I am no Inquisitor nor am I a true Astartes. You can call me Commander Shepard, and these are my partners Miss Lawson and… you can call him Legion. Nevertheless I am an agent of the Fate Breakers Space Marines, and I'm here on a very important mission."

"The Fate Breakers are in orbit?" A younger man, no older than nineteen, was overcome with both shock and awe, "We're saved! Yeah-hah!" He jumped for joy and twirled his sniper rifle in his hands.

"Shut it Tyler!" A much larger man with tan skin, rugged facial hair, and broad shoulders slapped the back of the boy's head, "The Biker scouts will find us for sure if you keep up with your persistent insouciance."

"Don't get your hopes up yet, he said nothing of the sort, yet." A woman with her blonde hair wrapped into a short ponytail fiddled with her lasgun while she addressed the man and the boy from the other end of the short sidewalk.

"Come, let us take you to our base. Tis not far and I'm sure we have enough food and drink for you." Norman stated with a peaceful smile on his face. Pointing toward the way they came, the civilians started walking down the sidewalk with their weapons still at the ready.

"That is most appreciated, but we ourselves have little time to spare." Shepard replied.

Norman sighed, "You're here to kill the Governor, are you not?"

"And if we were?" Miranda interjected.

"Then you should come to our camp. With the small amount of information you have at this point you will not get far at all. Much has changed in the last year and a third…" Norman lowered his head in grief and shed a tear, remembering all that had transpired over that long span of many months.

Arriving at what looked like a schoolhouse, the group of civilians walked ahead of the trio and up to the front door. The doors were under a tall archway of stone and steel, guarded by men who looked to be Imperial Guardsmen, pointing Heavy Bolters at them from behind small but effective barricades bearing the two headed eagle. One soldier that was obscured by the barricades turned back towards the door and yelled, "Patrol One is clear!" This caused the two heavy and thick steel doors of the schoolhouse to creak open. Upon entry many of the civilians scattered, returning to the arms of loved ones or looking for the first edible object to consume. But when Norman and the trio took one step onto the schoolhouse steps the nearest Guardsmen pointed their lasguns at them. Norman attempted to reason with them but only when the command came from their commanding officer did they stand down.

"At ease soldiers!" A dark skinned woman with a Kevlar vest and a black army cap emerged from the school's interior, and Shepard could tell it came from a woman who didn't make a habit of repeating herself. The Guardsmen swiftly pulled their rifles away and stood at attention upon her entrance. With a snap of her fingers, they either went inside or knelt back behind the barricades, disturbing the trio no further.

"Your men getting trigger happy, Deanna?" Norman asked with an alarmed expression.

"Next time, radio ahead if you come back with extras." The officer scanned Miranda's outfit, "And might I ask who the hell you are, wearing an outfit like that?"

"I'm Commander Shepard, and these are my crew. We are agents of the Fate Breakers Space Marines." He stated as he stepped forward, his Power Armor casting a shadow that engulfed the officer.

"Now this should be interesting." The officer smirked, gesturing for them to walk inside.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Mastermind's Confidant

"Roughly a year and a half ago, there were 'advertisements' throughout the sector that welcomed all to a world of paradise. Whether one was a beggar or king, barbarian or scholar, scribe or Inquisitor, all were welcome to this world of rest and relaxation. No more than a few thousand people arrived before the true intention of this world was revealed. The Planetary Governor, whom upon further research was found to be the good friend of one very elusive Commissar Grissom, was using the world as a ruse. It was meant to be a regimental tithe world, randomly kidnapping civilians and transforming them into they cyborg equivalent of demonic abominations. Every few weeks a small squad of ships would land on the roof of a building near the Capital Tower and if anyone had a good enough view, could see mysterious packages and crates of all sizes changing hands. That was when the first distress signal reached us. At first we ignored them, but when five signals detailing different aspects of the situation reached our fleet within a single week, we took action. Days later we had many ships in orbit and a heavy presence on the ground, both determined to find an answer to the question of what was going on down there."

Norman told the terrible story of how they became stranded on the empty world they were on now. He sat atop a school desk, eating some sort of food from a disposable plate between sentences. Miranda and Shepard sat nearby, taking it all in. Legion, whom did not need to be engaged in the conversation to hear the man's speech, stared out of the small window that stretched across the wall. The night sky gave way to the bustling vista of bright and flashing city lights, rivaling the splendor of similar pleasure towns like Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi, and many others across the galaxy of the 22nd century.

"What did you find?" Shepard asked.

"They… were waiting for us. The people that arrived before us were beyond dead. They were experimented on, transformed into something that I simply don't want to lay eyes on again."

"Take your time Norman, explain it too us… It's important." Shepard tried to calm the man down, but he had obviously endured extensive trauma, and was very strong in not letting it affect him as many others Shepard had seen before.

"I was the Sergeant to one of the 11th Kasrkin Stormtrooper division. We were sent as part of a three-pronged spearhead assault into the inner city from three sides. One was entirely Sentinel Walkers and Hellhound Tanks, one was a stealth assault comprised of Snipers and Catachan Teams specializing in urban combat, and our attack was heavily armed, fast moving infantry, made up of Cadian Veterans and Kasrkin Troopers. They weren't prepared to be assaulted on all sides, but they still overpowered us. Most of the citizens were warped or transformed into… They were… like these zombies, only more machine than undead."

"They were transformed into husks, drained of all bodily fluids and replaced with cybernetics." Miranda stated, which was confirmed with a nod from Norman.

"They swarmed our ranks in slow but unending numbers. We could easily outgun them, and they could barely scratch through our armor, but in such swarms they slaughtered us all. But it did not end with those simple creatures. Some of them glowed a fiery red, and charged our lines, exploding into a ball of bitter fire when they were within arm's reach. And if our men were not dead from such beasts already, a few horrific things stood atop roofs and balconies just out of range. They were hideous beings that looked to be made of several bodies, and possessed some sort of sorcery that was not tied to the Warp. From afar they shot invisible shockwaves at our ranks, tossing them dozens of feet in every direction and crushing others where they stood. Our Sanctioned Psyker could see no presence in the Warp from any of them, as if they were all dead. Our broken forces swiftly retreated to the outer edges of the city on this continent, and thankfully the 'husks' did not follow. But only when we regrouped did we learn of the terrible extermination of our armor at the hands of these utterly alien constructs. We only have blurry photographs of the machines, but even among the veterans who had survived campaigns against the Necrontyr had never seen such things." Norman showed a worn photograph taken by what looked like the camera on a Chimera or Leman Russ tank, and high in the sky was the silhouette of a screaming Praetorian construct, perched on the edge of some building.

"Looks like this Governor has some connection to the Reapers." Shepard stated.

"I don't know who these Reapers are, but I know they are as merciless and cunning as they are evil. We sent distress messages to the fleet in orbit, but moments into our communications the Planetary Defense Forces' anti-ship defenses rose from hiding within common skyscrapers. But their weaponry sat twisted and augmented by whatever evil lurked within the city center. They bombarded the ships with hailstorms of fire, and we all watched with our heads turned to the sky as our only way home was turned to ruin. They sent a long-range distress call in time, but we can only assume that they had no time to send through an Astropath or use other means of speeding the signal. The nearest outpost, if it still stands, is twenty-three months away without Warp travel. So we waited."

"Why did the husks and the Praetorians not leave the inner city?" Miranda asked.

"The tower must be the origin of whatever is controlling them. If they breach its maximum range if the controller is immobile then they would simply wander and attack anything perhaps even each other. I have a theory." Legion turned to the group when Shepard was beginning to put the pieces together, "This Governor is related in friendship or some other agreement to the Commissar, whom we are almost certain is either an agent of Chaos or the Reapers, against his will or no. If Grissom is a willing agent of either, than he may have swayed the allegiance of this world's leader through this friendship or agreement. Now, if the Governor has turned against humanity, then his 'employers' would most certainly reward him with proper tools to do what he pleases."

"Which can mean only the Reapers are pulling the strings, since no known alien race or faction of Chaos possesses these types of troops." Miranda began to help Shepard, bouncing the single idea back and forth between their churning minds, unraveling the confusion and mystery before them.

"So the Governor somehow created an entire world, or at least a city, filled with resorts, casinos, and the like, and uses it as a lure for the unsuspecting civilian. He draws in a few thousand and somehow turns them into husks or other creatures, repairs any damage caused by a panic. But how did he get the Imperial Bastions and defenses?" Shepard scratched his brow, his armored fingers warm but smooth to the touch.

"They could have used materials given by Grissom or taken from mining the areas below the city's surface, and then replicated them to look like Imperial weapons, albeit modified using Reaper tech for maximum efficiency. And they also add to the illusion of safety when advertised to the public, if they saw an obvious presence of defenses it could have swayed many others to come in the first place." Miranda added again. Norman was caught in the confusion of getting so many questions answered after all this time and having those questions be replaced by new ones.

"So what is his purpose now, rather what was his purpose to begin with?" Shepard asked, now pacing.

"I'm sure those questions can only be answered directly, and the man is probably at the top of that tower, guarded by battalions of Husks, Abominations, Scions, and Praetorians. We will need to contact the Fate Breakers and ask for a significant amount of Space Marines. As for the anti-ship defenses, we will need to take care of them ourselves." Miranda proclaimed.

"We can construct a long range communications tower by dawn if the proper materials are available." Legion added.

"This is all well and good, but there is something else you should know." Norman interrupted, "The survivors… took the news differently. After we all regrouped, we took up residence in the buildings far from the watchful eye of the tower. We also found some of the civilians who got away, and had managed to find adequate supplies and a good place to hide. We took them in, taught them how to use weapons as we did, and even treated them as fellow soldiers, especially when things got real bad. Some of the regiment, or their remnants at least, saw this as an opportunity for freedom from the life of a Guardsmen and even the dedication to the Emperor. They embraced anarchy, becoming degenerate brigands whose only purpose was to live by pillaging and killing as they pleased. There were true horrors in the city's center, but we have been at war with those rogue bandits for these painful sixteen months. We can successfully get to the defense towers and shut them down, but they will need to be eliminated first."

"Shepard stopped pacing and smirked, "Not a problem."

Atop the mostly flat roof of the schoolhouse, Legion was one knee tinkering at the inner workings of a comm. tower he had recently constructed using only the materials he had available and his miraculous Meta-Gel. Although it looked to be made of rusted scrap and worn steel, the six foot tall construct was complete and functioning. Legion turned away from the pylon as Shepard came into view from a small service entrance that led from the school's inner depths to the roof. Opening the light aluminum door Shepard's eyes widened with surprise.

"I leave you alone for twenty minutes and you make this?" He asked, moving closer to the tower to inspect its design and craftsmanship.

"Organics cannot do manual labor as efficiently as we do, given the flaws and drawbacks of using lactic acid as a cooling system on your muscles." Legion added in his monotonous voice, but Shepard swore he could hear the hint of an ego.

"Did you calibrate it to match Imperial comm. frequencies?" Shepard asked as he brought the side of his left wrist to his torso. Starting up his Omni-tool, Shepard began to interface with the pylon.

"We completed the task exactly as ordered, Commander." Kneeling to tinker with the base of the tower, Shepard would have discerned his answer through the lack of complications in getting a connection.

"Commander Shepard to Astartes Battle Barge ISC Daedalus, coordinates one-two-five mark zero-five-six." He stated his commands to his Omni-tool in a clear and understandable tone.

"Connection established. This is Daedalus Battle Company. It is good to hear from you Commander Shepard." The voice of Epistolary Kuzon echoed into his earpiece. "You remember me, from our discussion a few days ago?" The man's very proper tone and choice of language was hard to forget, but neither was it something Shepard was eager to be rid of either.

"I thought the Captains were in charge of the battle companies."

"The Fate Breakers do rival the Black Templars in number at around six thousand, but we have a limited command staff. Instead of even and rigid Battle Companies we roam in small fleets of three to five Barges along the western edge of the Tempestus Segmentum. Each Battle Company is named after the ship at the head of each fleet, and has the same functionality as any single Chapter. To answer your question would be a simple 'yes'. But I reckon you wish to know where he is?"

"Do you have the answer to that question?"

"Second Master Ventralis is not of Daedalus Company. His title designates him as the master of the Second Battle Fleet, Immortal Valor. The Captain that leads Daedalus Company, the third of the six, is Captain Ephraim Kagetono. He is newly appointed to serve as my partner in leading this company but as one would expect even of a newly promoted Space Marine he is more than experienced. And if I know Ephraim, he is down in one of the barracks of the Vanguard, honing his skills through sparring."

"Did you say you were also the commander of the Fleet Company?"

"I am, and as the Chief Librarian, and in fact the only psyker among the Fate Breakers, I do not bear such a title lightly. But enough of this distracting conversation, tell me, what is the situation on the ground?"

"Worse than expected. We have almost definite proof the Commissar is aligned with the Reapers, and through his friendship with Governor, so is he. We have firsthand accounts from the stranded remnants of an Imperial Guard regiment who were sent here to investigate the Governor… only to be slaughtered by creatures only the Reapers can create."

"How did they become stranded?"

"Their entire fleet was destroyed by augmented anti-ship batteries hidden within the buildings at the city's center. Any Space Marine warships whom attempt to bomb such structures would most likely suffer the same fate. The remaining ranking officers can only hope that a distress signal went out, but it would take another eight months for a signal to reach the nearest outpost outside of the Warp. Also, half of the survivors seemed to become fond of pillaging and anarchy. The Guardsmen here have been admirably surviving by holding off the roaming gang for the past sixteen months."

"What about the Reaper soldiers?"

"They cannot leave a certain distance from the city's true center, which is the humble residence of the Planetary Governor," Shepard turned slightly to look at the tower only a few miles away. The morning fog made the many architectural details indiscernible, but he was only interested in its size, "Standing at a few hundred stories tall. So the two warring sides have been at each other's throats for all of this time, and have not come across a single creature since they landed. If I may be so bold, I do have a plan. If my team and I can get rid of the gang, we can mobilize the remaining Guardsmen and aid in whatever offensive you wish to use."

"You have the expertise, Commander. I think it is a good idea, but it would be best if you were to coordinate with the Company, specifically to best deploy a precise force insertion."

"Are you sure? Space Marines are more than qualified to assault any location, and taking orders from a simple human no less?"

"You get us down there Commander, and we'll take care of the rest." Kuzon smirked.

"Fine, but to help even the playing field, my synthetic friend will send you all intelligence regarding the Reaper soldiers, in files applicable to the Space Marines." Shepard turned to Legion and stressed the last sentence to him personally. Legion did not make eye contact, but understood the message. His brow plates fluttered and his eye lens focused, causing two blue lights to blink in succession on the base of the pylon.

"Hmm… This is quite interesting. Yes, this information is quite useful. Very well, good luck routing those anarchists. We will move into communications range but stay clear of the city's defenses. Daedalus out."

"Come on, we've got work to do." Shepard waited for Legion to get up, which ended up being several minutes. When he stood up, Legion nodded and followed the Commander back into the schoolhouse.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Brigand Exterminators

The sun was high in the sky, the air was cool, and the city looked as foreboding and creepy as it ever was. To Shepard, it was a perfect day on an imperfect world in an imperfect time, just the place to be killing a band of barbarian anarchists. Before committing to the deed he wanted to make sure, he wanted to know if there was any way to convince them to surrender or rejoin the forces of the Emperor. These questions were met with stern faces and many a scolding, but they were not without merit. Shepard made a promise to himself and every other under his command that the blood of innocents would never be on their hands. He always looked for more peaceful alternatives, but now he was in the 41st millennium, where mercy and kindness could never be known to mankind's enemies. Quickly realizing this, Shepard became not only compliant, but eager to complete his task.

A long, winding road stretched vertically across the western part of the city. The sun beat down on the tar and asphalt road, kicking up heat waves that blurred many areas of into the distance. A renegade scout, hidden in one of the many buildings on either side of the road, peered into a pair of binoculars and looked to the road. Many of the buildings here looked to be offices or apartments, again having little similarities to standard Imperium architecture. The walls were plain the windows were boarded up or covered by dirtied, taut cloth, and all looked to be clean but empty. The heat waves obscured much, but coming into view in the center of the seaming miasma were three powerful warriors. First, the unmistakable form of a Space Marine, armor as black as night, came into view and began walking down the road. Then, the shape of a woman with a form fitting white uniform and black hair appeared to his right, the sun reflecting off of her metal arm. Finally an unknown being appeared to the left of the marine, its one eye glowing an eerie white. Fumbling with the binoculars, the scout dropped them onto the concrete floor he was kneeling on. Making only a minor sound, the young man yelped, but only after did he realize he was too far away for them to hear the sound. He reached for a thin but very long rocket launcher, which was already armed, and pointed it at the trio.

Legion's auto-senses picked up a glint of light from the rocket faster than the two humans could, "Incoming rocket projectile!" Yelling in his monotonous voice, Legion drew his sniper rifle and took cover behind a building.

"I see it." Shepard could clearly see the incoming rocket, and answered the synthetic casually when he plotted out the rocket's trajectory in his mind. "It's not very accurate, and not very fast either." He quickly drew his Carnifex sidearm and pointed it at the missile. Squeezing the trigger twice, the projectile exploded in a flash of light and fire dozens of feet away from him. He squinted, focusing on the targeting sensors in his HUD, he peered through the right lens and looked to an inconspicuous tower standing only a few stories taller than the field of smaller buildings surrounding it. Constantly shifting holograms focused on the silhouette of a man in one of the tower's windows, allowing Shepard to finally acquire his target. "Legion, open fire!"

Legion quickly leaned out from the building he once cowered behind and shot a single bullet from the extremely long bolt action rifle. Shepard had never seen such a thing before, coming to the conclusion that the rifle was created thousands if not tens of thousands of years after his time. The slug hit its target almost instantaneously, but instead of seeing the man's body drop out of view everything within fifteen feet of the man in the window violently exploded, nearly bringing the tower down with him. The impact made a swift and piercing sound and the unexpected event made Shepard turn away for a moment. When the smoke from the bullet cleared he saw a jagged crater in the center of the tower wall facing them, with no trace of the assassin but plenty of destruction.

"What the fuck was that?" Shepard screamed to Legion, taken off guard with shock and awe.

"We did as you commanded." Legion retorted.

"Okay then," Shepard approached him and took a deep breath, then lifted the sniper file in Legion's hands to eye level, "What are the exact details of this rifle?" He asked in a calmer voice.

"This is the CX-7824 Bolt Action Rifle, model upgrade Omega 12-B. Designated for use against vehicles and larger creatures. Using explosive duritanium slugs and triple-chambered acceleration technology, all projectile fired from this weapon are accelerated to approximately 8.14 to 8.20001 percent of light speed. Weighing exactly 108.40 pounds/49.17 kilograms, it can only be used by Geth or Krogan snipers without being ground-mounted. Protocol dictates we cannot say when it was created, but we can say the rifle was not created recently and it was created to combat the growing Ork threat."

"Orks?" Miranda asked, allowing the first thing to come to her mind were the creatures in Lord of the Rings. Shepard guessed she would think of them, remembering her face occasionally buried in one of the books when he stopped by her office on the Normandy every so often.

"They're a prime threat to humanity in the 41st Millennium. A very barbaric and almost cartoonish race of… well as far as I know they're plants. They reproduce like Thrasher Maws, just more quickly."

"Shepard Commander is correct, a single spore if put into direct contact of soil will over the course of a standard galactic year produce enough Orks to overrun a planet. What you may not know from the Ultramarines Video Logs is that the Ork threat began much earlier than the Horus Heresy. Even the Citadel races needed to take extreme precautions for centuries until the Eldar shared with us ways to sterilize worlds of Ork spores without having to damage the soil or the indigenous plant life. Humanity has unfortunately come to the conclusion that the only cure to such a thing is "_Exterminatus_"." Miranda could guess what that meant.

"Speaking of which, you have yet to finish our dialogue from earlier." Shepard waved his arm to Miranda to get the three of them to hide in the alleyway. "I can understand why you would not share the information with us in the presence of two veteran Space Marines, but now would be a good time to share that little tidbit of info you left out. You know, like your involvement with the Emperor, perhaps?"

"Now is not the time to share information. Several enemy humanoids on two wheeled vehicles are approaching our position at a speed of-"

"Great." Shepard pointed a finger at Legion's eye, "You're still going to tell me. Mark my words, before sunset you will tell me." Legion could understand this was not so much a threat as it was a request made overly dramatic through the quirks of human language. He heard a slight laugh under Shepard's breath as he turned away and leaped into the center of the two lane road, but his robotic mind gave it no further thought when the combat began.

Shepard could hear the sound of motorcycle engines, it was a heavy and rough sound, one he had some fond memories of. Since the bikers were only blackened shadows in the distance now, Shepard took a moment to try and recall the memory of such a time…

Shepard was a spacer kid, an Air Force brat by most standards, and most of his younger years were spent living on starships that his parents were serving on. But when Shepard was in his late teens, just before he signed up for the Alliance, his parents were stationed at one of the large stations in Earth's orbit. This allowed Shepard to travel to many places around the world in his free time, and his parents had more than enough trust in him to be responsible and safe when by himself. One summer he spent a few weeks exploring Manhattan and the five boroughs, a unique and welcoming place to those who had an open heart and mind. Spending the nights at his grandmother's apartment, he traveled far and wide, and met many people of all types, race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, and even those of varying criminal backgrounds. Thinking back, he wonders how he never got into trouble with some of the people he met. But it never crossed his mind that it was because of his curious, tolerant, and most of all friendly nature that left an impact on them.

He remembered a big and tall man named Louis Doyle-Jones, a man who loved women and motorcycles. Shepard, only seventeen at the time, had simply grown tired of walking around looking for interesting or peculiar stores and wanted to grab something to eat. Walking into the first place he saw, Shepard took a seat in a restaurant and bar which happened to be the (exclusive) hangout for a notorious biker gang, of course it was notorious to those who actually lived in that part of Brooklyn. Shepard politely sat himself at a table near the door, quite oblivious to the perturbed hooligans who saw not a quiet and polite teenager but a threat to their pride and honor as gang members. Shepard noticed that biker types must frequent the restaurant, but he was entirely comfortable with letting them do what they want. If they wanted to dress however they wanted, live however they wanted, then it's their business.

When a blonde haired waitress approached him, she attempted to warn him of the trouble he faced by sitting in the establishment. But by that time it was too late, two men quietly rose from their tables behind Shepard and grabbed him by both arms. Together they were both big enough to lift the teenage Shepard from his seat and turn him around to face a third man. This one was slightly thinner, but had a much less inviting expression, and a terrible smell. After cussing up a storm and a few suggested threats on his life, Shepard began to use his silver tongue and kind heart to persuade the man from doing any harm to him. It did not seem to work on the men holding him captive, but every other man and woman in the establishment was moved by his speech to varying degrees, and perhaps most of all was the gang's boss. When he rose from the table, for the first time Shepard saw someone with fire in their eyes. Towering over the pungent man both physically and psychologically, his approach alone caused the two burly grunts to release their grip on Shepard. He barked at them to get on their bikes and spread word of the pungent man, who's real name was Donny something, being demoted. This caused Donny to become furious and attempted to punch the boss. The punch never connected, and Donny was on the floor with a broken nose from a much faster and harder swing. The Boss yelled at his unconscious body that he beat up turians twice his size in the First Contact War. When the whole room broke into laughter, the boss introduced himself to Shepard and patted him on the shoulder with one of his enormous hands. The last thing Shepard remembers of that day was sitting down and having a pleasant conversation with the man, and the roar of motorcycle engines just outside as riders came to and from…

They could see the anarchists clearly now, riding on choppers made of scrap from tanks and surplus building materials left lying around. The riders were no different than the men who greeted the trio when they landed. Dirtied skin, horrible hygiene, tattered clothing, and utterly bloodthirsty, they flailed about clubs and rugged sabers as they drove down the thin road, eager to kill the trio of trespassing travelers. Shepard pulled his Eviscerator shotgun from its perch across his tailbone, noticing he had not gripped the weapon in quite a long time. Turning a knob above the butt of the gun, a fiery red hologram outlined the weapons edges, all leading to a small square icon of a bullet engulfed in flame.

"Legion, fire a shot into the right vehicle on my order. Miranda, focus fire on the driver and any passengers if they pass me." Shepard yelled, crouching slightly in a gesture readying himself for a sprint.

"What are you going to do?" Miranda asked.

"I'm going to crush those bikes into tiny pieces." He paused, "Fire, Legion!"

An explosion engulfed the third and largest of the motorcycles almost instantly after Shepard's order, but this time he planned on such. The sudden loss disoriented the other two vehicles and slowed them for a short moment, but no matter how thought out a plan can be one cannot plan for the unexpected. The head motorcycle accelerated and charged down the road, closing the gap between it and Shepard in seconds. Shepard held his ground and planted his two feet into the road, taking a defensive stance.

Intent on running him down, the bandit sped past the gunfire from both Legion and Miranda's weapons, and Shepard had no intention of firing his yet. The moment he took to look back on his fond childhood filled him with a renewed resolve. When the front tire was inches from his body Shepard brought down his right fist on it with the full force of a true Space Marine. Letting out a war cry in a bellowing baritone, the fist cleaved through the rusted piping, chains, wires, and other machinery located just behind the front wheel. This followed a small explosion, sending the crooked tire shooting in between his legs and a smoke cloud enveloped the signature outline of Shepard's armor. Without giving the chance to the biker to regain his senses, Shepard picked up the wrecked front of the vehicle with one hand and held it in the air like a sword. With a single violent shake of the ruined vehicle Shepard removed the driver, throwing him to the ground and cracking his shoulder blade when he landed. The man turned onto his back letting out a meager moan. Looking to the last of the bikes, Shepard threw the bike as if it was a throwing axe and thanks to his trained eye and careful aim, it collided with the last bike and incinerated both in an instant.

Shepard let out a sigh, letting all of his anger leave his body in a single moment, and when calm he pointed the shotgun in between the man's eyes, "Answer my questions and I won't have to stain the pavement with your brain."

The man laughed, first out of sheer bloodlust and lunacy, but then out of fear.

"Take a good, long look at us. Do we look like we're joking around?" Miranda walked over to the injured biker and squatted down to look him in the eyes. The man ignored her threat and instead looked at her endowments which took up so much of his view. A subtle hand went to touch her, but Miranda predicted he would try it. She took her Tempest submachine gun and pointed it directly at the man's crotch, "He doesn't have to kill you yet, I can make it as painful as possible before you die." The man put his hands at his sides.

"Why? Why turn your back on the Emperor? A man whose morality and intellect transcended the barbarism of a dying Terra? A mind so pure that he united humanity under a single banner and nearly destroyed all who opposed him? A man who stood against injustice with the virtues of faith and brotherhood? Why turn to your back on the one man who stood for so much only to return to the filthy piracy and tyranny that he fought and nearly died to liberate you from?" Shepard was growing angrier with every word that came from his mouth, but he took another deep breath to calm himself. Deciding to remove his helmet calmed his mind a little faster as he took in the somewhat fresh air.

"What right have you to patronize us?" The brigand choked from his mouth, fighting back the pain. Apparently he must have suffered more damage than intended, "This world is owned by a madman who lives in a sea of abominations. No help will ever come. What do we do? Die in fear of those creatures or live the good life preying on those too morally just to join us and too weak to stop us?"

"Oh, you're going to die anyway, so might as well pillage and steal from your former comrades. You make me sick." Shepard frowned and sneered at the man, pushing the shotgun further into the man's forehead to the point of pinning him.

"Are you going to answer his questions yet?" Miranda asked impatiently.

"I'll answer you're questions when you ask them."

Shepard smacked the man across the cheek with the shotgun for his smartass remark, "How far to your main base, and what's the defensive layout?"

"The gang's hideaway is up the road, about ten minutes on foot. They're well fortified with anti-vehicle batteries, but we're not outfitted to fight goddamn Astartes commandos!"

Shepard pulled his shotgun away from the man's head and pulled the man from the ground, holding the bandit's arm behind his back, "I don't know what crimes you have committed in your time hear, how many you've stolen from, how many you have slain, you could have done close to nothing and be guilty by association, I care not. But if you want to truly repent not just in the eyes of the Emperor, but in the eyes of your peers, you will run to their base and not look back or slow until you reach it." Shepard threw the man forward and let go if him completely. He stumbled at first but then did as Shepard told him to. The man ran and ran and never looked back.

An hour had passed, and now the trio was in the thick of fighting.

"Miranda, on my six! Legion, cover fire!" Shepard pulled away from the security of the fountain in the embattled square, now riddled with bullet holes and leaking water. His kinetic barriers recharged with a mechanical sound following blue waves of light that washed over his armor. He looked to the large museum building, with a huge flight of stairs leading to a stone front and half a dozen stone pillars that towered above the humans defending it. Magenta colored lasers fired from weapons from faraway silhouettes of assailants barricaded beyond the range of Shepard's Revenant Machine Gun. It was in this situation he relied on Miranda and her biotic might. She came up behind him, dual-wielding her two submachine guns and firing at her targets with lethal accuracy. She followed Shepard as he dashed from the fountain to a pillar at the bottom of the grand stairwell, his power armor shielding her from the lightning fast laser fire. In that time, Shepard switched out for his grenade launcher, holding it close to his torso as his back slammed into the ruined stone pillar. A small ammo count on his heads-up-display blinked yellow, noting that only a few projectiles remained in the heavy weapon's drum magazine, he sighed heavily, fogging the two gold lenses slightly. Just as Shepard began to bring the grenade launcher to bear on one of the two barricaded gunners, Legion's sniper rifle went off, reducing one of the battlements to a stain in a crater. This obviously caused some panic among the bandits, or at least that's what Shepard thought was happening. Figures of men scrambled about at the top of the huge flight of stairs for a few seconds, then the gun batteries stopped, and then there was a very short silence.

Human behavior is unpredictable.

The sound if a zealous war cry carried itself poorly down the stairs, but it was still audible. Shepard only then realized what was going on by the time he took a second look at the top of the stairs. Down came the last of the brigands, nearly twenty in all, screaming in bellowing tones, carrying axes and swords and pistols of all sorts, and each one was hungry for vengeance.

Shepard a small window of opportunity thanks to the vastness of the stairs, pulling away from the pillar to unload four explosive grenades into the crowd. The group made no attempts to dodge the ordnance, either out of stupidity or lack of sanity, what was clear was the trio's resolve to exterminate the crazed criminals. Eleven in all, they could have overwhelmed the trio in close combat, but at any range, their gap in skill the fight was one sided.

"Are you sure it's safe to leave the rest of them alive, Shepard?" Miranda returned her submachine gun to its perch on her waist and wiped her hands clean of dirt and dust, looking to the eight men tied up, sitting side by side on the museum steps. Legion carried the remains of the fallen bandits and lined them up by the fountain, covering their bodies with rags or tarps from construction projects nearby.

"Yeah, they're not going anywhere. And if the Imperium gets their hands on a bunch of low-life criminals charged with capital crimes, they can deal with them. I'll call Norman and tell his crew the survivors are here, if the battle doesn't manage to blow up the city." Shepard replied as he tinkered with his Carnifex hand cannon, attempting to clean out an obstruction in the barrel with a short twig, "And I need an ounce of Abraxo and a pipe cleaner."

"We have deemed it permissible to allow a change of weapons, if you wish Shepard Commander." Legion walked over to Shepard and Miranda as soon as Shepard voiced his frustration.

"Permissible to your protocol, I assume?" Miranda crossed her arms and put on a smirk.

"Using Metaphasic-gel and the collection of weapons gathered from the bandits along with your current inventory, we can create any of the weapons in your armory as of 2185." Legion replied.

"But we're carrying the most advanced weapons in our armory, save for maybe for maybe two weapons neither of us can use thanks to a swell thing called recoil. What can you offer us other than the chance to clean our guns? Hell, I don't mind that at all though." Shepard stated with an eager grin.

"Due to errors already present in space-time, or due to events we are not aware of, there are additions to your armory beyond your knowledge. If you wish to go ahead, then it would be best if you read these messages." Legion activated his superior Omni-tool and tapped a few floating panels. This caused Shepard's Omni-tool to beep twice, and then came to life. Shepard lifted his arm and pulled up a small viewscreen to peruse through the documents, leaning over to allow Miranda to see them as well.

"Hey, these are e-mails from the Illusive Man on weapons shipments to the Normandy…" Miranda was surprised at the documents' content, "I was told that order for the M-96 Mattocks were stolen by Eclipse… How did he?"

"Here's one saying Jacob ordered some Phalanx pistols... I'll have to thank him later.

"The Illusive Man ordered some Incisor rifles too? I'm impressed he chose those, they wouldn't have been my first choice."

"There's also e-mails for armor deliveries too, some dating before we jumped into the 41st Millennium. I suppose we forgot to tell him that we made the Power Armor."

"No, when we started this crusade you explicitly ordered to keep him out of this, and I'm sorry to say I was reluctant, but I kept my lips sealed."

"Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Legion set us up.

With both Shepard and Miranda now carrying either fully cleaned versions of their old weapons, or newer weapons, the trio began walking towards the city center, "Commander to Daedalus, come in." Shepard tapped his miniscule earpiece and contacted the Astartes Battle Barge not far from the planet. "We've cleared the rabble and are heading to the city center on foot."

"Commander Shepard, this is Epistolary Kuzon. We have a lock on your location. Make haste to the city center and we will contact you again when we can begin a tactical assault, Daedalus out."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: Into the Howling Dark

Shepard swiped two fingers over a button on his collar to activate his radio, quickly returning his right hand to gripping the underside of his Revenant Machine Gun. With a swift hurdle he gripped the top of a pile of stones blocking the alleyway's exit and easily lifted himself over. To his left and right were his comrades, both just as armed and alert for any signs of enemies or danger. When they both emerged from the wrecked buildings on either side of the alley, they nodded to him, allowing Shepard to signal the Daedalus.

"Shepard to Daedalus Fleet Company, my team has reached the inner city and are awaiting further orders. Negative on any signs of enemy movement at this time."

"Daedalus to ground team, maintain radio contact to coordinate combat insertion." The reply came from someone who was not the Epistolary, indicating that he was most likely readying himself for battle.

"Understood, over." Shepard was just now gripping the situation at hand. He alone would be charged with getting an entire army of Space Marines into the fray. Calling in airstrikes as an Alliance Marine had not prepared him for this, hunting down Saren Arterius had not prepared him for this, but deep down Shepard had true confidence in himself.

"Shepard Commander, we have located the masked anti-air towers throughout the inner city. They are currently masked by false skyscraper roofs and decorative architecture on ground level. We are currently trying to discern the exact amount and location of all towers." Legion added.

"_I'm ready for this…"_ Shepard thought, letting out a sigh as he walked, just before he began his task. "Roll in Strike Package Epsilon on target zone Alpha-Two-Seven. Drop Pods move too fast to be seriously damaged by the AA guns, use them to take out the gun towers with their landing impact. I authenticate Sierra Alpha at time 1400 hours. May you all carry the Emperor's judgment on swift wings."

"Attention Thunderhawks, this will be a danger-close troop insertion, those AA guns will rip you to shreds if you do not fly hard and fast, priority objective is troop insertion. Repeat, troop insertion is your primary objective." The com filled with layers upon layers of transmissions, reinforcing the chaos and peril of the situation.

"This is Captain Kagetono to Ground Team, I will lead my teams in the Drop Pod Assault, but we need you to mark the AA gun locations so we can take them out, do that and the Thunderhawks can drop their payloads without delay."

"Legion, I need the locations of those towers, now!" Shepard yelled.

"Long range LADAR tracking of all anti-air batteries is almost complete." Legion replied. "It would be preferable if the amount of towers was a known parameter!" Legion surrounded himself with floating hologram panels, searching every building for the anti-air towers. The soul chilling moans and screams of husks and abominations echoed throughout the city streets.

"Targets marked, we're reading seven towers. Are you sure the Drop Pods can take them out by landing on them?" Shepard yelled into the com, perplexed by the strategy but more focused on the enemy he could not see but hear all too well. He was now pointing his gun in every direction as the moans got louder and closer.

"We can, but we only have five Drop Pods onboard, we need ordnance closer to target guns one and four."

"Daedalus Command to Captain Kagetono, our techseers have seized control of the Storm Raven Gunship used by Shepard to land on the planet, it has the necessary firepower to take out the towers, it may cost us the gunship but it will work. Gunship ETA: two minutes."

"Shepard to Command, my team is danger-close to gun four. I recommend that my team disable the gun to limit the chance of harm to both the gunship and my comrades." He yelled this into the com moments after moving across the street and around the corner of a large row of buildings, where only yards away a huge gun battery poked out of the bottom of a gorgeous fountain. The gun's rate of fire was so fast the projectiles fired into the air with a deafening buzzing sound.

Legion pulled out his titanic sniper rifle and pointed it at the tower, immediately pulling the trigger. The gun tower was consumed in an instantaneous explosion that reduced it to a pile of ruined scrap and slag. "Gun tower four has been neutralized." Legion stated over the com.

"Techseers are altering gunship course to gun tower one, engaging in one minute."

"Attack direction northwest! Storm Raven, you're clear and hot!" The gunship roared by overhead, continuing to fly at an unimaginable speed until it was out of view just a second later.

"Drop Pods are go, taking out remaining towers and dropping squads, for the Emperor!" One by one, the Drop Pods landed directly on top of the anti-air batteries, flattening them on impact. For a fleeting moment they resembled shootings stars in the sky, and for that fleeting moment both Shepard and Miranda were so mystified that their gaze was transfixed on the cluster of Drop Pods.

"Ground Team to Command, we are out of visual range but can still take out tower one, is assistance required?"

"Negative! The gunship has retained minor damage, but will need to land until fuel tank is repaired. Tower one has been effectively neutralized!"

"Drop Pod teams one, two, and four have landed successfully and taken out their respective towers. Drop Pod five needed to take evasive action and landed in the outer city."

"Captain, Drop Pod four took out its tower, but exploded on impact. All Space Marines assumed lost."

"That leaves only one tower. I'll take it out myself." Kagetono's voice echoed over the radio, but Shepard assumed he was on one of the Drop Pods.

Moments later, a Thunderhawk Gunship soared towards the skyline from the southeast with a Land Raider Redeemer hanging from its underbelly. Just as the gunship was 50 meters above the tower, it dropped the Land Raider. The tank plunged through the fortified mechanical tower with unnatural ease, but as soon as it pierced through booster rockets on the four corners of the chassis began to burn a fiery blue color, cushioning the tank's fall to the ground. As soon as it landed, the Land Raider turned to face the last tower halfway between it and Shepard's position, and ended its existence with a spot-on shot from its Multi-Melta turret.

"Nice work, Shepard. You got us on the ground, now let me take it from here." The Captain asked in a posh and very gentlemanly tone. However, Shepard was too shocked to respond. "Commander Shepard?"

"How the fuck… How the… God… Damn…"

"Commander Shepard, respond."

"You've got to be kidding me! When the hell did you decide to drop tanks from 50 meters up and god knows what speed? Are you insane?"

"Ha ha! You're getting the hang of it now, Commander!" Shepard was even more confused by the Captain's reply, but felt comforted by having to address more pressing matters.

Black clouds began to encroach on the skyline above, causing a drizzle. This drizzle, mixed with the boiling hot city streets, which had been baking in the sun since early that morning, created a small but ominous fog. The husk screams were no longer muffled, the husks were everywhere.


	16. Chapter 16

_(Author's Note: Sorry this is late, to be frank: stuff happens. However, I've worked out the plot from here to the end of the series, which will definitely be anything but a short and brief ending. I will try harder to keep the updates closer together, especially since this one is short.)_

Chapter 16: The Midnight War

Menacing storm clouds covered the entire skyline, unleashing pouring rain onto the fierce battle below that filled the city streets. In the inner city, there were no flashing lights or dazzling signs, those were far off, and barely visible in such a storm. The rain was at times coming down so hard that a misty haze covered the ground from the sheer blowback of water. Then, just as the storm was at its fiercest, hordes of moaning Husks and screeching Abominations materialized out of the growing fog.

"We must press on to the central tower! Whoever is controlling the husks is inside!" Shepard pointed to the ominous centerpiece of the city, a blackened skyscraper whose jagged top was far above the cloud line. This gesture was a simple one, but consumed a length of time that Shepard could have spent firing his weapon. A husk broke through the lines and lunged at him, moaning its harrowing and terrible moan. He countered by grasping the Revenant with both hands in an aggressive stance and swiftly cleaved through the soft and frail skin of the husk's brow with the bottom corner of the Revenant's grip in a single, vicious sweep. Cybernetics and clumps of dried grey goo scattered from the husk's injuries, which collapsed to the ground immediately after being struck.

"You heard Shepard! Onward to the tower!" One Tactical Squad Sergeant commanded to his squad. Across the street from where Shepard and his squadmates were making their stand, ten Space Marines heroically yet slowly made their way up the street. Their Boltgun barrels flashed bright orange with each shot, and with the storm clouds hanging completely overhead the only light that could be seen for miles was from the barrels of rifles. Each bullet from a boltgun quickly flashed a light that illuminated the Space Marine wielding the rifle, casting light that brought out their signature outline as well as casting intimidating shadows. The sound of other Marine Squads and their bolter fire, as well as the roar of the Captain's Land Raider Redeemer's engine, could be heard in the distance over the husk moans, indicating many other squads had been engaged.

The sergeant of the nearby Tactical Squad charged past his men to meet a pair of Abominations in combat. Grasping his Combi-Melta firmly with his left hand, he fired two bolts into one Abomination, causing an instantaneous explosion that caused the demise of three Husks adjacent to it. The other Abomination croaked and screeched, but continued charging at him, the blood red veins and wires now literally ablaze. The sergeant immediately sheathed his Combi-Melta and moved the chainsword in his other hand in a swift sweeping motion until his other hand grasped the lower part of the grip. With another sweeping motion the sergeant effortlessly struck the Abomination in the side, throwing it into the wall of windows nearly ten feet above him. The Abomination's dying wail was immediately with a small and silent explosion, just like every other of its kind upon their expiration. Paying it no further mind, the sergeant activated the chainsword, letting the beastly roar of the razor teeth speak for him. The soft flesh of the husks disintegrated with every swing, with grey and blue goop splashing everywhere with every husk the stood in the way for the lethal weapon. Charging through nearly two dozen husks in mere seconds, the Tactical Squad made their way to a spacious intersection, and across from them was another squad being led by Shepard and his two comrades.

"We need to get everyone to a centralized rally point, work our way to the tower as a single force!" Shepard yelled as loud as he could over the rain, gunfire, and guttural shrieks. He pulled away from a trio of husks as they came at him with shriveled fingers tipped with scalpel sharp talons Shepard pulled on the trigger of his Revenant rifle only and fired the last rounds the thermal clip could handle. Miranda immediately intervened by summoning a churning sphere of biotic energy and hurled it at the growing crowd of husks, this pulled in dozens of them like a vortex, twirling and shaking them violently around the sphere. With a violent, jolting arm motion, the sphere detonated and instantly incinerated too many to count.

"This is definitely fine training for the assault on the Collector Base!" Miranda jammed a fresh thermal clip into Shepard's rifle, saving him the short yet irreplaceable time he would have had to spend reloading. Then, with lightning speed she holstered her Locust submachine gun and grabbed the Phalanx pistol on her other hip, promptly inserted a new thermal clip and activated the blue laser sight in no time at all. This gun was not as easy to hold in the clenched robotic hand then the other weapons she had been using in the past months, but its recoil was almost nonexistent, and she found the laser sight far too useful to simply disregard the weapon. "You know, the mission we are supposed to do when we get back."

"If I remember properly, we came here while halfway through the Omega-4 Relay…" Shepard sarcastically replied, supporting himself with one knee on the pavement as he fired bursts down the street in short arcs. "Dammit! When this is over, all I want to do is pass out on my bed!"

"Stay on the sidewalk Commander Shepard! Our Land Raider is making its way to you!" The barely familiar voice of Captain Kagetono was slightly garbled by the feedback caused by the rain. Shepard could hear the water bounce off of the outer hull of the tank as it moved, and his own helmet was not entirely soundproof either, but neither made the transmission inaudible.

Soon the fiery light of the Land Raider Redeemer's colossal Flamestorm Cannons were visible from a few blocks away. The tank's engine roared as it plowed through the endless horde of husks with impunity, free of the concern of such insignificant creatures being able to damage the hull, or even find a way inside to meet an even more painful demise. It rolled closer and closer to their street in a manner fitting the powerful war machine, but Shepard felt this was the exposition to a far more dramatic entrance. The tank only seemed to slow as it reached the center of the small intersection, and was now in full view from Shepard's angle. This was the first time he had a sense of the vehicle's scale. The Land Raider was a titanic machine, comparable in size to no other craft he had come across before. Having to utilize the scanners hard-wired into his HUD, Shepard measured the Land Raider to be approximately ten meters long, six meters wide, and four meters high. While he scanned it, the sensors also picked up subtle heat signatures within the tank. The assault ramp flew down, squashing two husks and an abomination instantly, the abomination exploded soon after, concealing the interior of the Land Raider with a plume of black smoke_. "Whilst we draw breath, we stand. Whilst we stand, we fight. Whilst we fight, we prevail. Nothing shall stay our wrath!"_ A voice echoed in the back of Shepard's head, almost as if this quote was a memory, told to him by a far wiser mentor long ago. They were also the same words the Captain was proclaiming as he charged.

"And we shall know no fear!" Shepard bellowed at the top of his lungs, in unison with the chorus of identical replies from other Space Marines in earshot of the Captain.

Captain Kagetono and his Assault Terminators cleaved and butchered through scores of husks with the grace of true warriors. More and more of them shifted their focus onto this one squad, ignoring all other enemies. A tide washed over the squad from all sides, nearly engulfing them and hiding them from the view of onlookers, and none could count the true amount of attackers. However, it was clear their peerless skill was beyond necessary to smother all attempts of attack. Even when surrounded by an unending horde, with no reprieve from the lethal claws trying to tear their armor asunder, such blows were futile. With every strike of the Captain's mighty Relic Axe, every butchering slice of the Terminator's Lightning Claws, and every ground-shattering swing of their Thunder Hammers, a score of husks fell. In the dark and the pouring rain, Shepard's view of the combat was aided by the lights of the Land Raider, but he ignored that as he watched the Captain and his retinue obliterate the husks. The glowing edges of their energized melee weapons shimmered in the lightless space as the Husks clouded the lights of the tank as they crawled on top of the holy machine. The entire area around him was lit by the unending barrage of bolter fire since the combat began, but in the epicenter of the dramatic combat there was a sight to behold. The faint glow of the many weapons flew with the motions of the Space Marines in perfect harmony, allowing the Commander to make out the weapons rather than the grey armor of the wielders. Energy cracked and danced along the surface of the weapons, sizzling in the rain, itching for a chance to leap from their point of origin to the unholy cretins that clawed at them.

Shepard could only stand and watch the mighty titans do their work, for he could only do so much when surrounded by an army of men beyond his scope of skill and power. He came to his senses when the fight ended, which was a mere forty seconds after the Land Raider had made its entrance.

"Fate Breakers, rally to me! Form up on my flank and push towards the tower!" The Captain bellowed into the insignificant earpiece on his left ear, raising his colossal Relic Axe into the air for those nearby to see, which was followed by the Space Marines quickly forming line after line of troops and vehicles, block after block to the left and right of the Captain wherever they were deployed or dropped.

"We march for the Emperor!" The Captain exclaimed.

"We march for more than that, not just the Emperor, not just humanity, we march for every sapient man, woman, child out there. We march for life itself!" Shepard added, barely yelling over the storm, catching the Captain's attention. He looked to the Commander, moving his sand-colored cape to the side with his axe haft dramatically, but it was not a look of anger or annoyance, it was a stare of true respect. "It is up to us to stop the Reapers, and thus our banner does not carry your seal alone, the flags of a million worlds are raised just as high, and march with us until our enemy is slain. These Reapers will be the death of everything we know and care about unless we stop them!"

"Aye! We march -for life itself!" The Captain raised his axe again, yelling even louder than before.

"And we shall know no fear!" This reply was screamed by the entire contingent of Space Marines on the ground around them, and exclaimed even louder by Shepard. The reply echoed in the darkened city streets and endless rain, igniting a fiery zeal that only fueled their efforts to eradicate the tides of undead husks.

It was then Miranda began to realize the reasoning behind Shepard's tenacity and hunger for combat was not out of a poorly kept temper or an unhealthy bloodlust, but rather he fought for a purpose more noble than anything Cerberus was fighting for. The fate of humanity was one thing, but to him the fate of all sentient life rested in his hands, and the weight of his task only pushed him further and harder…

At the top of the tower…

"We have unleashed all of the husks from the containment shells and cryo-bunkers, as well as the storage units in the sewer sub-storage units. The Scions and the Praetorians are moving in as well."


	17. Chapter 17

_(Author's Note: It's been a while since anyone has put forward suggestions for improvements or critiqued the story, if you wish to put forward either I would appreciate it, such comments help me improve the story. Thank you)_

Chapter Seventeen: The Horror Discovered

The Fate Breakers were pushing towards the tower with a strong offensive. At over a hundred battle brothers in total, more than half of the Daedalus Fleet Company brought the Emperor's vengeance upon the vile minions of the Reapers. Like fire the Drop Pods rained down upon the city, crashing into anti-air guns like meteors to allow the deployment of reinforcements. Within minutes of the Space Marines making landfall, foreboding storm clouds blocked out the daylight and unleashed a foreboding rainstorm as the battle progressed. The severity of the downpour hindered visibility and interfered with all communications, but the Space Marines would not let these things halt their campaign. With the combined knowledge on the Reapers given by Legion, and the daring tactics of Captain Kagetono, the ominous ebony tower was soon within their grasp.

Kagetono had long since ordered his mighty Land Raider to aid in another conflict, and now led a heroic charge down a main street that was in clear line of sight to the central tower and its corrupted blackened spires. The rain persisted at the same unrelenting pace, saturating every warrior down to their very core. Shepard, Miranda, Legion, and every Space Marine toiled in the streets, knowing no warmth but the fire in their hearts. This was a fire that burned with such vigor and zeal that it pierced the dread in this dark storm.

"Miranda?" Shepard asked as he and his comrade moved fluidly back and forth, combating the husks and other creatures.

"Yes?" There was a soft tone in each other's voice, a tone that could be heard over the raging storm and chorus of horrific moans and shrieks of the Reapers' minions.

"You said you didn't have the fire in you to do what I do. You said I would always lead, and you would always follow… Well, look where we are. We are at the center of a galaxy slowly burning in the uncaring void, here there is no respite, no compromise, here there is only war and death. We do not belong here, and yet you came with me, sacrificed blood for me, Miranda you are stronger than you have ever realized, and I am proud to call you a comrade."

"Thank you, Commander Shepard… But there will be a time for being sentimental, and it isn't now!"

"She's right Shepard, now if you'd be so kind as to be my rear guard!" Kagetono charged past them with his titanic Assault Terminators and sprinted down the street. At the street's end, two Praetorians flew in and crashed into the asphalt, their four talons churning up chunks of road upon landing and flying in every direction. "Ideaus, Creon, Sergeant Adeon, with me!" Kagetono yelled to the three men in his squad thunder hammers and storm shields.

"Wait! Watch for the Praetorians' Death Choir!" Shepard screamed, hoping to get the Captain and his men to turn back from the signature killing blow of the constructs. He was too late, the two creatures let out a bellowing screech, sending a wave of energy in all directions. However, the Captain and the three Terminators were safeguarded by the invincible technologies of the mighty Iron Halo and the group's storm shields. The energy given off by the attack was forced aside as they inched forward, and when their attack ceased they floated back into the air. Kagetono could see the skulls that the creatures displayed as teeth it never actually used. This vile desecration would be punished by his mighty Relic Axe, but this one would not die by his hand.

A projectile from somewhere above the group crashed through the Praetorian with enough force on impact to sear a hole in it. The creature crumbled into dust, and the Captain paid the cause of the impact no mind, he turned from where the first Praetorian stood and cleaved his axe through the second villainous creature. It was not so much fazed by the blow as it was annoyed with the foreign object stuck in its main body, and in return attempted to free the glowing axe from its head with violent jolts. Kagetono's grip was stable, and he himself was unaffected by the creature's attempt at dislodging the melee weapon. The Captain disoriented it with repeated bashings across its face with his Storm Shield, distracting it so his Terminators could use their Thunder Hammers with impunity. However, the person that had pierced the first monstrosity and sat in the crater now removed himself from it. It was Epistolary Kuzon, donned in his crimson armor and ornamented jump pack.

"Foul creature of malice forged of desecration, burn by the Emperor's holy inferno!" Kuzon screamed as he dipped his senses into the foulness of the warp and found the sacred light of the Emperor's presence. This holy visage granted him the power he needed to annihilate the great evils before him. Pulling his mind out of the warp and back into the material universe, Kuzon thrust his left arm out to the Praetorian and punched the horrid alloy that formed its skin. This punch unleashed the might of the Emperor and out of his fist came a blazing stream of violet fire. The energy pierced clean through the Praetorian and melted it into molten slag.

"Nice of you to join us, Epistolary Kuzon." Kagetono stated as he signaled for his full retinue to regroup behind him. Shepard and his squad followed with the Tactical Squad.

"I am most certainly not alone, Ephraim." Kuzon gestured to the sky, where bright flares could be seen raining down upon the city, "My Vanguard apologizes for the slight delay of our landing, but a delayed arrival is still an arrival… What is our current objective?"

"Secure the tower, once we control its perimeter we will decide who shall assault its interior."

"Aye. We march for the liberation of humanity!"

"And we shall know no fear!"

The Captain and his Terminators advanced towards a well barricaded firing line of Scions, elevated on a platform surrounded by Abominations laying in wait and two more Praetorians. Kuzon used his massive jump pack to hop up to a roof on a building on a street corner, using his radio to maintain a constant connection with his hardened Vanguard Veterans. Shepard followed behind the Captain, and was beginning to see the horde dwindling. The righteous ferocity of Kuzon's Vanguard outclassed the husks, with many veterans utilizing a chainsword in each hand, the vicious power sword or axe, and even a pair of Lightning Claws. These tools when wielded by these heroes brought forth the will of the Emperor, and his will was for the Fate Breakers to advance.

"Captain! There's something coming your way!" A Sergeant yelled across the comm. hoping to get the Captain's attention. Suddenly, the Scions and Praetorians backed away, allowing a new enemy to take center stage. This enemy was technically a familiar one to the Space Marines, but by no logical reason did it deserve to exist in this city.

"Vile Genestealers!" Kagetono raised his axe towards the pack of alien creatures, identical to the creatures Shepard faced so many months ago, when Miranda lost her arm. They leapt dozens of feet into the air and threw themselves at the Captain and his bodyguards. The combat was swift and decisive, the Space Marines found no challenge in these foes.

"First, a pack of these creatures appear on a world that has no signs of falling to the Tyranids, then, the aliens throw these things at us? I remember fighting these creatures on the Hive of Ymgarl for twenty minutes in single combat before slaying it."

"Wait! Look at its wounds!" Shepard ran forward, noticing something odd about the details within the massive cuts cleaved by the Captain's axe. "The Reapers once before warped the Protheans into their slaves, over time mutating them into mindless slaves that look nothing like what they once were. These are no different. I know you have enough experience slaying these beasts to know a Genestealer that is not!" The tyranids' skin was a mix of yellow and brown, all of it rough like the bark of a tree, and within their now mutilated insides was clear evidence of alien technology.

"To have any number of these xeno enthralled and able to do their bidding can only be explained by a connection to the Reapers. I admit I had a sliver of faith in the Commissar's innocence in this whole situation, that faith is now gone."

"Captain, there are sure to be more of the Tyranids as we get closer to the tower. We must be cautious as we advance." Sergeant Adeon added.

"When are we not cautious, Adeon?"

"I may only suggest that rage and fury are our tools, not things that cloud our judgment. It would be a calamity if those roles were to switch."

"Thank you for your guidance, Adeon. However, a moment of laxity spawns a lifetime of heresy."

"Then let us stand here no longer."

The dark tower was only blocks away, and the once brittle perimeter of Space Marines had converged into a hardened unrelenting advance. Half a dozen squads made their way down every city block within view of the tower, vehicles roared along the streets unchallenged, marching lines of battle brothers cut away at the ever dwindling horde by the dozen as their blessed rifles saw to the destruction of each and every cretin. However, as the fleet company closed in on the structure, more and more vile creatures were taking the place of the already grotesque husks and abominations. The wicked and alien malevolence labeled only as the Tyranids were appearing in force. These were nearly identical to the actual menace, and perhaps were once counted among their insidious ranks, but these were no longer the monstrous adversaries of humanity. Corrupted and twisted by the machinery and experimentation of the Reapers, Genestealers, Warriors, and Hormagaunts seemed to leap out of the shadows in the darkest corners of alleyways and sewer drains. Numbering in mere dozens and scattered across the many streets, their failed ambushes were increasingly disorganized and had no effect on the marines.

Once the Space Marines surrounded the tower, an enemy worthy of their skill emerged. The base of the tower was obscured by a veil of perfect shadow, spawned by the much larger diameter of higher floors. The base of the tower itself was at least fifty meters high, easily accommodating to the final wave of horrid creatures the enemy had lying in wait. The absolute shadow hid these final opponents well, but any man with a helmet or an auspex could clearly see the size, shape, and number of beasts lurking in the darkness. They seemed to be waiting patiently for the Fate Breakers to charge into the darkness and meet them head on.

Kagetono pinged his radio and addressed the company, readying his heavy axe and shield in a formidable fighting stance. "We have cleaved through a city of monsters and zombies, all once innocent souls now corrupted by the evil machines! We have brought the will of the Emperor down upon the Tyranid menace, corrupted by the same machines! Now a wall of demons seek to keep us from breaching this vile tower, and by our righteous fury and sacred weapons shall we tear down these abominations. And we shall do so in the Emperor's name!"

"For the Emperor!" The voices of a hundred men bellowed in unison, almost echoing as the chorus of invincible soldiers uttered those three words, each man screaming them with such vigor and zeal that they sparked something in Miranda's mind. Shepard had most certainly yelled these words with the company, almost as if he was one of them. For a brief moment her mind shuddered, marveling at the sudden epiphany that sparked in her mind. She finally understood what drove such a kind and tolerant spirit to wage war with his unique conviction and vigor, the complete reason why he was the only man who could take on the Reapers. Shepard's entire adult life had been shaped by his knowledge of the 41st millennium, and it had forever changed his core ideologies, but not his morals. However, recalling past event led her to a second realization, but now was not the time to address him about it.

The Space Marines charged into the darkness, their righteous battle cry muted by the inescapable storm of bolter fire. Golden rays of light stretched into the black curtain and burned it away with unrelenting waves of explosions. The stone and steel walls of the tower were mostly unaffected, but the demons were provoked into charging in counter attack. With their true forms revealed, the demons were all as ferocious and gruesome as one would expect. They had no commonalities between them save for their imposing size, and like true demons they had no shape that could possibly be described or compared to anything. Their appendages mimicked flails and twisted cudgels rather than arms and legs, limbs and muscles contorted into impossible angles, bones splintered into massive horns that jutted out of several points across their bodies. Wide eyes opened on several points on their bodies, focusing on opponents charging at them from all directions. These demons, fourteen in all, were the true embodiment of evil save for their intent, which was replaced by instinct or irrefutable orders. The Fate Breakers Space Marines, a Chapter that time and again defies the will of an uncaring galaxy, charged at the monsters with their swords raised high, knowing that they fought to banish this evil from this forsaken planet and keep it from returning to any world across the universe so long as one of them lived. The two sides finally clashed in melee combat, and from there the battle was swift, its victor clear…

Shepard was tired. He stood with his head high as he shared in the victory with the battle brothers of the Fate Breakers, but beneath his relieved expression and subtle smile every bone and muscle in his body ached. This unfortunately could not compare to the weight on his mind and soul, which cried out for something Shepard could not give them, for he did not truly understand the concept of that his body was trying to tell him. It was a series of conflicting thoughts and emotions that fought in the back of his mind since his death and resurrection so long ago. Miranda, in her pragmatic convictions, suddenly realized what seemed to weigh on his mind after but a moment's contemplation, she realized she had a major role in causing what he was going through. His charismatic charm and motivating resolve certainly raised no eyebrows among the Space Marines, but she could see it in his expression, she could see it and do nothing about it.

_Into the tower we go…_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: The Legend and the Pragmatist

"Where did they go?" Captain Kagetono moved from one squad to the next, looking amongst his Space Marines for any trace of the two of them. He repeatedly hollered their names into the air, expecting a reply from a far off yet reachable position, he received no such reply. In time the other Space Marines looked around for them as well, and unfortunately came up with similar results…

"Captain!" Sergeant Malus, the wise and insightful leader of a Tactical Squad, brought Legion to the Captain's attention. Gesturing with his massive power fist, he sent Legion over to converse with Kagetono.

"Where is your squad, synthetic?" Kagetono asked.

"We are unable to answer that question at this time. However, we witnessed an anomaly exactly nine minutes ago. Through an unexplainable phenomena, Lawson and Shepard teleported to an unknown location. We are not used to making assumptions, but after reviewing the situation we assume they were taken against their will."

"Can any of my men back up this claim?"

"Sergeant Malus, and Battle Brothers Cleon and Kyba of Tactical Squad _Nobilis_." Legion replied, followed by the Captain gesturing for the three mentioned Space Marines to come forth to the Captain.

The storm clouds were dissipating, the rain had ceased, now the only sound in the city other than those of a hundred Space Marines conversing or tending to their gear, was the rain flooding into the sewer drains. The faint sounds fused into a chorus that mimicked a far off waterfall. Water still dripped from the armor and weapons of the three marines, they made no attempt to dry themselves off.

"Yes Captain?" Malus was a man with soft facial features, a trait uncommon amongst the Space Marines, his hair was the color of sand and his eyes black. His legs from the tip of the femur down were lost years ago, replaced by sturdy bionics that shimmered after a nice shower like the rainstorm that just past. His two underlings were equally as impressive looking as their sergeant, with elements of different variants of power armor mixed symmetrically into a suit unique to each marine, a trait common among the Fate Breaker Marines.

"You saw the Commander and Officer Lawson vanish?"

"Not exactly, we turned around one moment and the next they were gone." Kyba added.

"Did your men run an Auspex sweep?"

"We did sir, but our squad's Auspex keeper, Brother Hadrian, has reported three signal sources at the top of the tower. We cannot discern the cause of those signal sources, but there is one isolated signal, and the other two are meters from each other." Malus replied.

"That's enough of a reason to break down the doors of this tower, don't you agree Sergeant Malus?" Kagetono asked, smirking.

"Aye, Captain. Shall I send for our Vindicator Tanks?"

Suddenly, the stone doors of the tower cracked. The crack was followed by several mechanical sounds, as if a hidden array of concrete mechanisms worked behind the doors. They shifted forward from the seamless tower base, revealing their thick profile. The doors were easily ten meters of solid stone, yet they smoothly moved away from their frame in the tower, they slid along a hidden rail system until the entire doorway was free of their obstruction. Every Space Marine had drawn their bolters as soon as the doors started to move, approximately eighty infantry pointed the barrels of their mighty rifles into the boundless shadow beyond the doorway.

"Kuzon, take Tactical Squad Custos into the tower. I will follow with Tactical Squad Nobilis." Kagetono ordered over his radio, looking at the ominous tower entrance, unable to see anything beyond the shadow veil. "All other squads, hold this point. Do not enter unless we call for assistance."

"Shepard?" Miranda was highly disoriented, one moment she was talking to the Commander when in the blink of an eye darkness replaced all that she once saw and heard. She rubbed her eyes, the cold metal of her right hand was as smooth as her other hand. She then realized she wasn't blind, she looked around for any source of light, but could find none, yet she could see her hands and everything else on her person.

"It's been a while, Miranda." A familiar voice came from behind her. She spun again, wondering why she saw nothing in that direction before, but now the light of a dying star cast a dim haze at the corners of a defined space. This was also familiar, as familiar as it was not welcome.

She looked to the silhouette of a man in a sleek chair, facing the projection of the star. "Illusive Man…" She was perturbed and annoyed, and aware of the impossibility of his existence. "If you're going to say anything, don't bother. You are not real and I haven't the time or the patience to talk to the real Illusive Man, let alone a copy."

"This isn't like you Miranda. Has Shepard really corrupted your vision so far as to turn from Cerberus?"

"I will not let a figment of my own mind believe that I could ever return to the side of Cerberus! For years I was made to understand the perspective of such a group. I still understand, I comprehend its goals and intentions, and to an extent I still believe in them, but no more! I have seen the mighty and whole truth, so has Shepard and so has the real Illusive Man. The Reapers cannot be stopped while backing human interests, it could never and will never work, and I won't support it! You say I have been corrupted by Shepard into making this decision, but that would imply that I am weak of mind. I have no regrets in supporting Shepard and I have no regrets on turning from Cerberus!"

"Suddenly, you let your emotions burst from your mind and wash over me, the concept of emotional compromise has always been an alien trait to you, Miranda. Why does it guide you now?"

"These are things that the real Illusive Man will never hear, and since you are a figment of my mind and not real, you understand that Shepard will never work to further Cerberus at any point. Shepard is an agent of the truth, and through him I understand the logic and reasoning of all sides."

"So your love for him guides you?"

"That is but a small fraction of the whole that is my loyalty to him. You forget one thing, false man. It's not that I am ordered to be at his side, but I would choose to be nowhere else. It is choice that defines us, and I choose to forever disavow any allegiance to this organization forthwith!"

The light went out as quickly as a man smothers a candle with his fingers. Miranda stood in the silent darkness, contemplating the reality of the decision.

From her first memories as a child on the run, to her young adult years with Cerberus, to her time with Jacob and the Lazarus Project, the images flew through her mind in the constant wind of her thoughts. Then, images of Shepard flashed again and again. She smiled in the darkness, realizing many things…

'_I already made the decision long ago.'_

The wall behind her shifted and shuffled, the metal walls that were forever hidden by the Illusive Man's projection of a dying star gave way in a sense. The walls came apart, the flat paneling receded in segments, and grey dust clouds seeped in and dispersed. Miranda could barely see, but in comparison to the pitch black darkness of the room the dim grey light blinded her. Then, that grey light became brighter, going from a grey haze to radiant light in seconds. Miranda struggled enough to look in the general direction of the light, and then Miranda could hear metal footsteps.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she utterly froze in awe.

There he stood, a titan among men, nine feet tall and imposing in every sense. His terminator armor was blue like the ocean, flawless and free of dust and damage. Elaborate golden ornaments dominated his person, from shoulder mounted icons of eagles and angels to incense burners and scroll holsters that covered his belt. His arms were hidden by two massive mechanical gauntlets, attached to them automatic rifles that were fed by belts of bullets that led far up the back of his armor. Laurel wreaths, Iron Halos, and purity seals speckled what little blue armor was actually showing under the gold icons, indicating his seasoned past and seniority on the battlefield. With the slightest movement his crimson cape would flow behind him dramatically, only adding to his intimidating appearance.

The man passed over Miranda's shuddering expression with a laser sight, originating from his left eye, "I am Marneus Augustus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines and Lord Macragge." His voice was refined, bellowing, and perfect. Miranda had not encountered anything like the man before, for no single Space Marine she had met of fought beside could seem to measure to his greatness. This was a rare occasion where her cold demeanor was overcome by stronger emotions, she had never been so captivated by shock and awe, and from but a glance at a single man.

Yet he was not real either.

"Why are you here? I've never seen you before?" Miranda pointed her question at the illusion, and not the man."

"I shall escort you to Martin, it's only fair that you are present." Calgar used Shepard's first name, causing Miranda to note she nor the rest of the Normandy crew called him by his full or first name.

"May I ask what for?" Miranda was keen on remaining cautious and respectful to the illusion of Calgar.

"You just overcame an emotional burden, did you not? Shepard must now do the same… It would be out of place for me to say anything more." Calgar gestured with two fingers for Miranda to follow him into the mist of light.

Everything became dark again.

Miranda had an idea of where she was, but that alone felt to be as insane as it was morally wrong. She was somewhere in Shepard's mind, a place perhaps no outsider deserved to see with their eyes.

She came to a muddy cliff, covered in scattered patches of green grass. She could vaguely make out a man at the edge of the cliff, he was on his knees and his head was in his lap. As she approached behind the massive form that was Marneus Calgar, she could tell the man was Shepard.

Beyond the cliff was a horrific scene, she could see a once serene and tranquil valley, surrounded on all sides but the north by a ring of mountains. The north allowed her to view the ocean and the horizon between the sizeable gaps in the mountains. But this was not a peaceful scene, it was not warm or nice or pleasant, that seemed to have been taken from this land years ago.

A raging rainstorm, not unlike the downpour during the battle to reach the tower, covered the landscape. Black clouds obscured the sky and all possible light, leaving only the roiling infernos that had overtaken the valley town to light the sky. Lightning bolts surged into the water close to the horizon line, illuminating dark shadows of crustacean-like machines, the villainous Reapers, floating in the distance above the water.

Miranda peered down into the valley, only to see wrecked statues and monuments that represented each of Shepard's friends and comrades. She could see proud structures now reduced to rubble and ash, littering the valley in a toppled mess.

Miranda could finally see it, even if it was some elaborate fabrication, Shepard's will and resolve had broken.

"This is his visualization of the Reapers winning, carrying out the extermination of the human race." Calgar added. Miranda noted the pouring rain washed over his smooth armor, but the rain not once touched her. She could not feel the wind, smell the flames or the stench of death, she was a guest in his mind but she could not help but feel as if she was trespassing.

"Does he know I'm here?" Miranda asked Calgar as she approached Shepard, kneeling down to his level so she didn't have to raise her voice over the pouring rain. One hand went to his left arm and she froze.

In an instant, scattered memories of Shepard's past played in her mind. She could see his death at the hands of the Collectors. With this memory, the emotions and the physical trauma he experienced at the time went with it. Horrific pain and terrible emotions overwhelmed her psyche for but a moment, she would have let out a scream from the experience if it had lasted any longer. She pulled away and gripped her head, only to look back at Shepard, still overcome with despair in his submissive pose.

"I did so much for this galaxy. I saved innocent lives, I halted the invasion plans of an omnipotent and genocidal machine race, and at least in between those things I had a bit of fun. But I failed to create a long term solution, hell people thought I was lunatic for talking about the Reapers." Shepard tilted his head to barely face Miranda, but the eye lenses of the power armor were always opaque, she could not gather an expression by looking through them.

"So what? Your crew believed you. Anderson believed you. Cerberus believed you. It seems the people that believed you are the people that were the ones with the power to do something." Miranda retorted, staring boldly into the eye lenses hoping she could get to him.

"And yet it is the hand of Cerberus that stole my credibility! I understand that time and hard work went into resurrecting me and replacing my ship, but after that the Illusive Man went to great lengths to fuck me over!" He backed away from Miranda and rose to his feet, staring out at the apocalyptic horizon. "Freedom's Progress, Horizon, Ferris Fields, all of them have been lost or marred by the Collectors. The Reapers are readying themselves for an invasion, if not already on the march, and I'm sitting here in a future where humanity is slowly dying in a galactic war, so far from my true goal! I'm sure whatever is at the top of that tower can tell us why we need to be here, but I question what purpose we serve if the Space Marines know what we do. But, say we do succeed here, how does that help our fight back home? Is this a giant distraction?"

"That is up to you to answer, Shepard." Calgar interjected, causing Shepard to wholly turn to face him. Miranda tried to add something, but Shepard seemed to not hear it altogether, as if Calgar held his attention so utterly his mind blocked out all others. "This galaxy, here in the 41st millennium, needs you just as much as your galaxy does. However, you are not bound to this task. You can leave at any time with or without Miranda Lawson, and the events that transpire here may or may not affect the events you experience upon your return to your time."

Miranda moved to Shepard's side, taking his helmet off and holding it out of reach, "Look at me Shepard." He turned to face her, she could now see how psychologically worn and tired he was. Trauma that would have broken the sanity of most men had little effect on most men, but it had slowly eroded Shepard's dauntless soul. However, Miranda was most certainly not going to let that fade into the night. "Do you see a Cerberus symbol on my clothing?" Shepard looked to the patch just above Miranda's left breast, finding the insignia to be marred and unrecognizable by two horizontal cuts in the shirt. "What you did for me I will never forget. You allowed me to choose a side of my own volition. I was not convinced or persuaded, you let me make the decision to change without letting your hatred for Cerberus tainting your arguments with bias. I now understand what kindness is in your heart, how it drives you, and I will not allow you to cast it aside and admit defeat before our enemy has even shown its face!"

Shepard froze, something in his mind clicked. The tiredness in his face faded in moments, replacing it with the look of zealous rage. He grabbed his helmet from her hand and put it on, "I'll be damned if I let the Reapers get here and the galaxy isn't waiting with nothing short of a dozen fleets!" Calgar had vanished, but that regal and fearless posture that he maintained now seemed to take form in Shepard, who turned to her with an apparent sense of renewed vigor. "I have been through so much, and it has changed me, but it has never changed my kind and tolerant heart. It took me forever to realize that, and I never would have if not for you."

"You allow me to turn against the organization that raised me and I bring you back from the brink of insanity, we're even." She replied with a smirk.

"No, you resurrected me. I still owe you big."

"Ha ha! That you do." They gave each other a light hug as they laughed in unison. The entire illusion faded around them, revealing a grey corridor with a high ceiling and walls smudged with dirt and grime.

A door opened at the end of the corridor, ten meters from their position.


End file.
